Wmm  COMMODITIES 


piiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii 

1  Your  smallest  need  for  | 
1  anything — anywhere  we  m 

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinri       *        B  iiiiiiiiiniiiiiiitiiii 

|  shall  be  happy  to  quote  | 
I  for.  0  0  0  \ 

Illllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllli 

•  g  jj 

Contractors  to  H.M*  Government 

*      *      * 
Manufacturers  of 
OFFICERS    GLOVES. 
MOTOR     GAUNTLETS     AND    AUTOMOBILE 

GLOVES. 
COLONIAL     HAND  WEAR      "  MAID      O'THE 

WEST." 
GLOVES      FOR      EVERY       OCCASION       IN 

LEATHER  OR  FABRIC. 

"  PERFECTION     SUEDE  "  AND     ANTELOPE 
LEATHERS.  UPPER  LEATHERS. 

GLOVE  LEATHERS.         LEATHER  APRONS. 
AEROPLANE   SEATINGS. 

H  M 

Also  Exporters  of 

|      WHITE  WASHABLE  &  CHAMOIS  LEATHERS.      JJ 
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FANCY   LEATHER    GOODS. 
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TANNING   MATERIALS. 
FOOTWEAR. 

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1      lll!l!lll!l!l!ll!!l!lllllll!!lll!ll!i  I 

I  F.  BLAKE  &  CO.  1 

Manufacturers,  Import  and     YEOVIL     En£ 

Cable— Blake  Co..  Yeovil.          Code— Marconi  International 
Phone— Yeovil,  47,  Night— 191. 

iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii 

(I463j) 


GLOVES  AND 
THE   GLOVE  TRADE 


1 


a 


PITMAN'S  COMMON  COMMODITIES 
AND    INDUSTRIES 


GLOVES  AND  THE 
GLOVE  TRADE 


B.  ELDRED  ELLIS 


LONDON,-  ,"".\  ;\  ; ,'.  {  :;,; 
SIR  ISAAC  PITMAN  &  SONS,  LTD. 
PARKER  STREET,  KINGSWAY,  W.C.2 

BATH,     MELBOURNE,     TORONTO,     NEW     YORK 
1921 


COMMON   COMMODITIES 
AND   INDUSTRIES   SERIES 


Each  book  in  crown  8vo,  cloth,  with 
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TEA.     By  A.  IBBETSON 
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OILS.     By  C.  AINSWORTH  MITCHELL, 

B.A.,  F.I.C. 
WHEAT.     By  ANDREW  MILLAR 

RUBBER.     By  C.  BEADLE  and  H.  P. 
STEVENS,  M.A.,  Ph.D.,  F.I.C. 

IRON  AND  STEEL.     By  C.  HOOD 
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COAL     By    FRANCIS     H.     WILSON, 

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TIMBER.     By  W.  BULLOCK 
COTTON.     By  R.  J.  PEAKK 
SILK.     By  LUTHER  HOOPEK 
WOOL.     By  J.  A.  HUNTER 
LINEN.     By  ALFRED  S.  MOORE 
TOBACCO.     ByA.E.  TANNER 
LEATHER.     By  K.  J.  ADCOCK 
KNITTED  FABRICS.     By  J.  CHAM- 

BERLAIN and  J.  H.  QUILTER 
CLAYS.     By  ALFRED  B.  SEARLE 
PAPER.     By  HARRY  A.  MADDOX 
SOAP.     By    WILLIAM    A.    SIMMONS, 

B.Sc.  (Lond.),  F.C.S. 

THE      MOTOR      INDUSTRY.       By 

HORACE  WYATT,  B.A. 

GLASS  AND  GLASS  MAKING.     By 

PERCIVAL  MARSON 

GUMS     AND    RESINS.     By    E.     J. 
PARRY,  B.Sc.,  F.I.C.,  F.C.S. 

THE  BOOT  AND  SHOE  .INDUSTRY. 
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ASBESTOS.         By      A.       LEONARD 

SUMMERS 

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ADLAM 

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STONES    AND    QUARRIES.     By   J. 

ALLEN      HOWE,      O.B.E.,      B.Sc., 

M.I.M.M. 
EXPLOSIVES.    By  S.  I.  LEVY,  B.A., 

B.Sc.,  F.I.C. 
THE    SLOTHING   INDUSTRY.       By 

B.  W.  POOLE,  M.U.K.A. 
TELEGRAPHY,  TELEPHONY,  AND 

WDIELESS.  By  J.  POOLE, 

A.M.I.E.E. 
PERFUMERY.     By  E.  J.   PARRY. 

THE  ELECTRIC  LAMP  INDUSTRY. 

By  G.  ARNCLIFFE  PERCIVAL. 

ICE  AND  COLD  STORAGE.  By  B.  H. 

SPRINGETT. 


OTHERS  IN  PREPARATION 


-7* 


PREFACE 

THE  primary  object  of  this  short  handbook  is  to  furnish 
in  popular  form  an  account  of  an  industry  which, 
although  of  comparatively  minor  importance  in  point 
of  value  and  extent,  by  reason  of  its  antiquity  and 
the  conditions  under  which  it  is  carried  on,  presents 
many  features  of  exceptional  interest.  It  has  been 
planned  to  meet  the  needs  of  that  large  class  of  drapery 
buyers  and  assistants  who  are  concerned  with  the 
buying  and  selling  of  gloves  for  and  to  the  public  ;  but 
it  is  hoped  that  it  may  also  find  favour  with  a  wider 
circle  of  readers  from  the  ranks  of  those  who  are  curious 
to  learn  something  of  the  conditions  under  which 
articles  in  e  very-day  use  are  produced.  For  that  reason 
technical  language  and  terms  have  been  avoided,  or 
where  used  are  carefully  explained. 

A  brief  sketch  is  given  of  the  history  of  the  glove, 
and  chapters  are  devoted  to  the  various  processes 
involved  in  the  making  of  both  leather  and  fabric 
gloves. 

It  is  the  author's  earnest  hope,  above  all  things,  that 
this  little  work,  slight  as  it  is,  may  kindle  a  deeper 
interest  in  the  British  branches  of  the  trade,  the 
activities  of  which  deserve  to  be  more  widely  known  and 
appreciated  than  they  seem  to  be  at  the  present  time. 

In  conclusion,  I  must  express  my  hearty  appreciation 
of  the  advice,  suggestions  and  help  extended  to  me  by 
several  friends  in  the  trade,  and  especially  to  Messrs. 
Dent,  Allcroft  &  Co.,  Ltd.,  F.  Blake  &  Co.,  Thos. 
Adams,  Ltd.,  and  Messrs.  Beardsley,  for  their  kind 
courtesy  and  co-operation. 

B.  E.  E. 

London,  December,   1920. 


15235 


HAND 

IN 
GLOVE 


WITH 

THE 

WORLD' 


TRADE  MARK. 


CONTENTS 


CHAP.  PAGE 

PREFACE  .                  ...  V 

I.    THE   ANTIQUITY   OF   THE    GLOVE  ...  1 

II.     THE    GLOVE   AS   A   SYMBOL  ....  8 

III.  THE  GLOVE  IN  THE  REALM  OF  FASHION            .  12 

IV.  LEATHER  GLOVES  I    SKINS  AND  THEIR  ORIGIN  23 
V.     SKIN-DRESSING   AND   TREATMENT             .             .  31 

VI.     DYEING  AND  DRESSING  THE  LEATHER   .  .         48 

VII.     GLOVE-CUTTING  .  .  .  ^        60 

VIII.     SEWING  AND  FINISHING  LEATHER  GLOVES      .         72 

IX.     FABRIC  GLOVES  I    ORIGIN  OF  THE  INDUSTRY  91 

X.     MAKING   OF   FABRIC   GLOVES  ...         98 

XI.    MARKETING          .  .  .  .  .  .113 

XII.    DISTRIBUTION    OF   THE    INDUSTRY  .  .117 

XIII.     BRITISH  GLOVE  TRADE  ORGANISATIONS        .  136 

GLOSSARY  .  .  .  .  .  .141 

INDEX  144 


o 


GLOVE  WORN  BY  CHARLES  I 
The  Property  of 


FOWNES  BROTHERS  &  COMPANY 


(1463j) 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

VIEW  OF  A   GLOVE  FACTORY  SEWING-ROOM    Frontispiece 

PLATE  PAGE 

1.  GLOVES    OF   HENRY   VI  .  .  .  .14 

2.  GLOVES    OF   QUEEN    ELIZABETH   ....  16 

3.  GLOVES    OF   MARY    QUEEN    OF   SCOTS     ...  18 

4.  VIEW  OF  A  LEATHER  DRESSING  YARD                 .              .  33 

5.  STAKING  THE  SKINS   (HAND  METHOD)    ...  40 

6.  THE    MACHINE    METHOD    OF    STAKING    ...  42 

7.  WASHING   THE    SKINS    PREPARATORY   TO    DYEING    .  49 

8.  PARING    THE    SKINS    WITH    THE    ROUND    OR    MOON- 

SHAPED    KNIFE        ......  54 

9.  THE    PARING    WHEEL               .....  57 

10.  A    GLOVE    CUTTER    AT    WORK          .  .  .  .61 

11.  STAMPING    OUT    THE    PARTS    OF    THE    GLOVE    IN    A 

CUTTING   PRESS          .              .              .              .              .  35 

12.  THUMBPLECE,      TRANK      AND      FOURCHETTES      FOR 

GLOVE    WITH    ROUND    THUMB      ....  68 

13.  THUMBPIECE,       TRANK      AND      FOURCHETTES      FOR 

GLOVE    OF   BOULTON    THUMB    TYPE      ...  69 

14.  THE    BROSSER    POINT               .....  74 

15.  THE    VICTOR    POINT    ......  75 

16.  EXAMPLE    OF    RAISED    POINT          ....  76 

17.  RAISED     POINT     WITH     SINGLE     ROWS     OF     DOUBLE 

NEEDLE    STITCHING               .....  77 

18.  THE    PARIS    POINT       ......  78 

19.  TAMBOURING    THE    BACK    OF    THE    GLOVE         .               .  79 

20.  HAND    SEWING— USING   THE    "  DONKEY-FRAME  "     .  82 

21.  TYPICAL    ROUNDSEAM    SEWING   MACHINE        .              .  83 

22.  SPECIAL      MACHINE      WITH      TAPERED      POST      FOR 

SEWING   FINGERS    OF-  GLOVES               ...  84 

23.  PRIX    SEAM    MACHINE             .....  85 

24.  SPECIAL    MACHINE    FOR    PIQUE    STITCH              .              .  86 

ix 


GLOVES  AND 
THE  GLOVE  TRADE 


CHAPTER  I 

THE   ANTIQUITY   OF  THE   GLOVE 

IT  is  impossible  to  fix,  with  any  certainty,  when  the 
glove  as  we  know  it  to-day  first  originated.  How- 
ever, there  seems  little  reason  to  doubt  that  the  practice 
of  protecting  the  hands  with  some  sort  of  covering 
reaches  back  to  the  very  remotest  days  of  man's  history. 
Indeed,  one  eminent  anthropologist,  no  less  an  authority 
than  Dr.  Boyd  Dawkins,  has  suggested  that  the  pre- 
historic Cave-men,  whose  existence  dates  from  before 
the  Glacial  period,  adopted  some  form  of  protection  for 
their  hands  which  bore  a  close  affinity  to  the  glove 
of  modern  times.  If  this  theory  is  to  be  accepted,  the 
antiquity  of  hand-wear  is  apparent,  for  the  Glacial  period 
is  generally  regarded  by  geologists  as  having  commenced 
some  240,000  years  ago. 

This  contention,  of  course,  is  quite  speculative  ;  but, 
looking  at  the  matter  from  a  human  point  of  view,  it 
seems  perfectly  reasonable  to  assume  that  the  need  of 
protecting  the  hands,  both  against  cold  and  against 
rough  usage  in  passing  through  thickets,  etc.,  must  have 
been  experienced  at  a  very  early  stage  of  human  develop- 
ment. This  possibly  brought  about  the  adoption  of 
some  kind  of  rough  coverings,  rudely  fashioned  from  the 
skins  of  beasts  of  the  chase,  and  it  is  probably  in  some 
such  manner  that  the  first  rudimentary  gloves  came  to 

1 


2         GLOVES  AND  THE  GLOVE  TRADE 

be  invented  by  our  pre-historic  ancestors.  Support 
for  this  view  of  the  origin  of  the  glove  is  provided  by  the 
fact  that  crude,  finger  less  coverings  for  the  hand  were 
observed  to  be  in  use  among  the  primitive  peoples  of 
northern  latitudes  by  the  earliest  Arctic  explorers. 

However  that  may  be,  coming  to  the  times  of  which  it 
is  possible  to  speak  with  more  certitude,  ample  evidence 
of  the  use  Qf;h and- coverings  at  an  early  period  of  man's 
history  is  forthcoming  from  ancient  literature.  There 
Is  little  daubt  .that  gloves  of  some  kind  or  another  were 
used  by  the  ancient  Persians  and  Greeks.  Xenophon 
ridiculed  the  Persians  because  they  used  them  in  cold 
weather  ;  while  in  the  "  Odyssey,"  Laertes,  the  farmer 
king,  is  described  as  wearing  some  form  of  covering  to 
protect  his  hands  from  thorns.  Whether  the  glove  was 
commonly  adopted  by  the  Romans  is  at  least  open  to 
question,  but  it  is  known  that  they  were  worn  to  some 
extent,  and  are  referred  to  in  classical  writings  variously 
as  "  digitalia"  and  "  chirothecae."  Pliny  the  Younger 
also  refers  to  tjieir  use  by  the  amanuensis  of  the  elder 
Pliny,  his  uncle.  Possibly,  however,  they  were  regarded 
with  contempt  by  the  somewhat  austere  Romans  as 
articles  of  effeminate  luxury. 

In  warfare  and  the  realm  of  sport  some  form  of 
mailed  glove  or  gauntlet  seems  to  have  been  in  use 
from  the  earliest  times  of  which  we  have  any  record. 
The  "  Cestus  "  or  "  Caestus "  is  mentioned  in  the 
account  of  the  Trojan  games,  a  thousand  years  before  the 
Christian  Era,  in  Virgil's  ^Eneid,  Book  V.  They  were 
used  not  only  as  weapons  of  offence,  but  also  as  tokens 
of  defiance.  It  took  several  forms,  but  generally 
consisted  of  thongs  of  leather  wound  or  plaited  round 
the  hands  and  weighted  with  metal.  Some  were 
particularly  formidable,  and  a  single  blow  from  one 
was  often  sufficient  to  cause  death. 


THE    ANTIQUITY    OF    THE    GLOVE  3 

When  the  glove,  as  we  wear  it,  came  to  be  introduced 
to  these  islands  is  a  matter  of  controversy.  Planch e, 
the  author  of  The  Cyclopedia  of  British  Costume, 
declares  that  "  Gloves  do  not  appear  to  have  been  used 
by  either  sex  before  the  eleventh  century."  Yet  it 
seems  certain  that  gloves  were  known  in  Britain  at  a 
much  earlier  period.  Whilst  we  have  no  evidence  that 
they  were  worn  by  the  Ancient  Britons,  it  is  within  the 
region  of  possibility  that  they  were  brought  here  by  the 
Romans.  They  were  certainly  worn  in  Anglo-Saxon 
times,  though  not  to  any  very  great  extent.  Some 
authorities  assert  that  gloves  were  already  being  worn 
by  the  clergy  and  military  in  England  and  France  by 
A,D.  712  In  the  life  of  St.  Columbanus,  written  by 
Jonas,  Abbot  of  Bobbio  (Italy),  in  the  seventh 
century,  gloves  are  spoken  of  as  being  used  among  the 
monks  to  protect  the  hands  in  manual  labour .  Th  at  they 
were  in  fairly  general  use  among  the  French  nobility  is 
certain  from  the  fact  that  the  Emperor  Charlemagne  in 
A.D.  790  granted  legal  permission  to  the  abbot  and  monks 
of  Sithin  for  the  hunting  of  deer  in  order  that  the  skins 
might  be  available  (among  other  things)  for  glove- 
making.  The  Great  Council  at  Aix  (A.D.  809)  seems  to 
have  turned  aside  from  its  consideration  of  weighty 
doctrinal  disputes  in  order  to  prohibit  monks  from 
wearing  any  gloves  but  those  made  from  sheepskin, 
deerskin  gloves  being  reserved  for  bishops.  This 
regulation  was  made  in  order  to  arrest  the  growing 
passion  for  ostentation  and  display  among  the  religious 
brotherhoods.  The  rule,  however,  proved  ineffective, 
and,  finding  it  impossible  to  stop  such  exhibitions  of 
ecclesiastical  luxury,  another  council,  held  later  at 
Poictiers,  confined  the  use  of  gloves,  sandals  and  rings 
to  bishops.  .  ^» 

Positive  evidence  that  the  glove  was  in  use  in  England 


4          GLOVES  AND  THE  GLOVE  TRADE 

prior  to  the  eleventh  century  is  provided  by  a  law  of 
Ethelred  (A.D.  978-1016)  whereby  merchants  from  the 
Low  Countries  coming  in  their  ships  to  Blyngesgate 
(our  modern  Billingsgate)  were  directed  to  pay  as  toll 
at  Easter  and  Christmas  "  two  grey  cloths,  and  one 
brown  one,  ten  pounds  of  pepper,  two  vessels  of  vinegar 
and  five  pairs  of  gloves  "  (vide  Howell's  History  of  the 
World).  But,  although  gloves  were  in  use,  it  is  question- 
able if  glove -making  as  an  industry  was  carried  on  in 
England  to  any  extent  at  that  period.  The  art  of 
leather -dressing  was  certainly  practised  in  many  of  the 
monasteries,  and  possibly  glove -making  may  have  also 
furnished  an  occupation  for  the  monks  here  and  there 
throughout  the  country,  but  the  earliest  references  to 
gloving  as  a  craft  in  England  do  not  occur  until  much 
later.  On  the  Continent,  however,  by  the  tenth  cen- 
tury, glove-making  had  become  a  recognised  industry  in 
several  centres,  and  the  Norman  conquest  seems  to  have 
brought  in  its  train  the  gradual  adoption  of  the  glove  by 
the  nobility  and  clergy  of  this  country. 

The  gloves  of  this  period  were  almost  certainly 
always  made  of  either  deer  or  sheep  skins,  or  linen  or 
silk,  and  were  frequently  of  the  gauntlet  type.  Long 
years  elapsed  ere  they  passed  into  common  usage,  even 
among  the  classes  to  whom  they  were  first  introduced— 
the  clergy,  military  and  nobility.  After  the  reign  of 
Henry  I,  however,  the  custom  of  wearing  them  gradually 
came  to  be  firmly  established.  Possibly  it  was  the  scope 
which  the  glove  offered  for  ornamentation  that  gave 
the  first  impetus  to  its  general  adoption,  for  there  are 
indications  that  thus  early  in  its  history  it  began  to 
develop  claims  to  be  regarded  as  an  article  of  fashion 
as  well  as  of  utility.  For  instance,  embroidered  gloves, 
and  gloves  with  bejewelled  backs  are  mentioned  by 
Planch  e  as  having  been  in  vogue  in  the  twelfth  century. 


THE   ANTIQUITY   OF  THE   GLOVE  5 

In  any  case  the  foppery  of  the  young  Norman  nobles 
came  in  for  contemporary  condemnation,  for  we  find 
one  writer  of  the  period  declaring  with  some  acerbity 
that  they  covered  their  hands  with  gloves  "  too  long 
and  too  wide  for  doing  anything  useful." 

We  have  already  stated  that  glove -making  had  become 
recognised  as  an  industry  in  several  centres  on  the 
Continent  by  the  tenth  century.  France  has  always 
been  famous  for  its  gloves,  and  the  French  glove  industry 
without  doubt  ante -dated  that  of  this  country.  In 
A.D.  1190  the  first  Corporation  of  Glovers  of  which  we 
have  any  knowledge  was  established  by  Philippe  II. 
This  corporation  was  established  at  Paris  and  its  objects 
were  (1)  the  regulation  of  the  manufacture  and  sale  of 
gloves,  (2)  the  supervision  and  adjustment  of  the 
various  interests  of  masters,  journeymen  and  apprentices, 
and  (3)  the  tendering  of  assistance  to  aged  and  neces- 
sitous members  of  the  fraternity.  The  first  Glovers' 
Guild  in  Britain  was  established  at  Perth.  It  is  said 
that  the  Perth  glovers  received  a  charter  in  A.D.  1165, 
from  William  the  Lion  ;  but  the  evidence  on  this  point 
is  not  conclusive.  Their  records  can  be  traced  back  to 
A.D.  1390,  and  a  charter  was  granted  them  in  1406  by 
Robert  III.  The  Glovers'  Guild  of  Perth  is  still  a  wealthy 
and  influential  corporation,  although  the  craft  has  long 
since  ceased  to  characterise  the  town.  By  1464,  we  read 
that  the  London  glovers  were  granted  arms  by  Edward 
IV,  but  the  glovers  of  the  metropolis  had  to  wait  until 
1638  before  they  received  their  charter  of  Incorporation 
from  Charles  I. 

By  the  middle  of  the  fifteenth  century  the  English 
glove  industry  must  have  already  been  regarded  as 
having  attained  a  position  of  some  importance,  for  in 
1463,  the  importation  of  foreign  gloves  was  prohibited 
by  an  edict  of  Edward  IV  in  order  to  afford  protection 


6  GLOVES  AND  THE  GLOVE  TRADE 

to  the  growing  trade  of  his  "  loyal  and  peaceful  citizens, 
the  glovers."  Incidentally,  this  prohibition  was  renewed 
in  the  following  century  (A.D.  1564)  and  also  by  Charles 
II,  and  remained  in  force  until  1825,  when  the  importa- 
tion of  gloves  was  again  permitted,  subject  to  a  small 
ad  valorem  duty.  This  duty  was  repealed  in  1860, 
and  subsequently  the  English  glove  industry  was 
severely  hit  by  competition  from  abroad,  particularly 
in  the  lower  grades  of  gloves. 

Worcester,  which  is  now  the  chief  centre  of  the  English 
glove  trade,  was  one  of  the  earliest  seats  of  the  industry. 
The  Worcester  glovers  were  incorporated  in  1661,  and 
they  early  gained  a  very  high  reputation  for  Venetian 
gloves,  made  in  imitation  of  those  imported  from 
Venice . 

It  may  be  interesting  here  to  record  that  the  charter 
granted  to  the  London  Glovers  in  1638  was  ostensibly 
given  with  a  view  to  correcting  certain  abuses  which  had 
crept  into  the  craft,  concerning  which  the  glovers 
themselves  had  petitioned  the  Crown.  The  preamble 
is  worth  quoting  even  at  this  distance  of  time .  WTe  have, 
of  course,  modernised  the  language  to  render  it  more 
intelligible  : 

We  have  been  informed  that  their  families  (the  glovers')  are 
about  400  in  number,  and  upon  them  depending  above  3,000 
of  our  subjects  who  are  much  decayed  and  impoverished  by 
reason  of  the  great  confluence  of  persons  of  the  same  art  trade 
or  mystery  into  our  cities  of  London  and  Westminster  from  all 
parts  of  our  Kingdom  of  England  and  dominion  of  Wales  that, 
for  the  most  part,  have  scarcely  served  any  time  thereunto, 
working  of  gloves  in  chambers  and  corners,  and  taking  appren- 
tices under  them,  many  in  number,  as  well  women  as  men,  that 
become  burdensome  in  the  parishes  wherein  they  inhabit,  and 
are  a  disordered  multitude,  living  without  proper  government, 
and  making  naughty  and  deceitful  gloves. 

The  charter  goes  on  to  state  that  the  reputation  of 
English  glovers  had  been  much  damaged  by  the 
activities  of  these  strangers  to  the  City.  Therefore, 


THE   ANTIQUITY   OF  THE    GLOVE  7 

the  London  Company  was  endowed  with  extremely 
wide  powers,  and  authorised  to  search  for  and  destroy 
bad  or  defective  skins,  leather,  or  gloves.  In  these 
days,  when  traders  or  manufacturers  most  strongly 
resent  any  interference  with  their  liberties,  and  to  whom 
the  mere  suggestion  of  control  or  regulation  of  trade  is 
anathema,  it  seems  strange  to  read  of  a  body  of  manu- 
facturers seeking  to  have  their  businesses  subject  to 
supervision  in  this  way.  Such,  however,  was  the 
spirit  of  olden  times.  In  those  days  infinite  reliance  was 
placed  on  protection,  and  these  ancient  guilds  were 
endowed  with  the  very  widest  powers  and  for  a  long 
time  even  fixed  the  wages  which  artisans  were  entitled 
to  receive  and  the  prices  at  which  commodities  were  to 
be  sold.  The  wheel  appears  to  be  coming  full  circle 
again  ;  for  wages  are  now  controlled  by  industrial 
councils  and  Trade  Boards,  while  there  is  a  very  clamant 
demand  abroad  for  the  limitation  of  prices  and  profits. 
To  conclude  this  brief  historical  sketch,  it  is  perhaps 
necessary  to  remark  that  the  use  of  gloves  seems  at  first 
to  have  been  confined  to  men.  Originally,  as  we  have 
already  indicated,  they  were  restricted  to  the  ranks  of 
the  clergy  and  military,  and  their  use  outside  of  the 
church  or  the  army  was  according  to  at  least  one 
authority  (Mr.  S.  William  Beck)  interdicted  by  law. 
Indeed,  ladies  no  not  appear  to  have  worn  gloves  until 
the  period  of  the  Reformation,  but  during  the  sixteenth 
century  the  fashion  began  to  set  strongly  in  their  favour, 
and  since  those  days,  the  custom  of  wearing  them  has 
gradually  extended  among  all  classes. 


2_(l463j) 


CHAPTER  II 

THE   GLOVE   AS   A   SYMBOL 

MANY  explanations  of  the  origin  of  the  word  "  glove  " 
have  been  advanced  from  time  to  time,  and  one  of  the 
most  generally  accepted  theories  is  that  the  word  is 
derived  from  the  Saxon  "  glofe  "  to  hide  or  to  cover. 
This  root  again,  according  to  etymologists,  is  a  modifica- 
tion of  the  verb  "  geloben  "  or  "  geloven,"  to  vow  or 
to  have  faith.  Whether  that  derivation  is  to  be  trusted 
or  not,  it  is  at  least  significant  that  the  glove  seems  to 
have  been  used  from  time  immemorial  as  a  symbol  of 
good  faith  or  trust.  We  find  it  appearing  as  a  legal 
symbol  in  connection  with  the  transfer  of  property  in 
the  East  from  very  early  times,  the  handing  over  of  the 
seller's  glove  to  the  purchaser  being  the  recognised 
form  of  investing  the  new  owner  with  his  rights.  It  is 
said  that  this  form  of  investiture  applied  particularly 
to  the  disposal  of  land.  Biblical  testimony  is  sometimes 
advanced  in  support  of  this  theory,  some  scholars  con- 
tending that  the  Hebrew  word  translated  "  shoe  "  in 
the  fourth  chapter  of  the  Book  of  Ruth  (v.  7  and  8) 
would  be  more  properly  translated  "glove."  (Hull's 
History  of  the  Glove  Trade.)  To  confirm  the  contract 
there  mentioned,  a  "  shoe  "  was  handed  by  the  kinsman 
to  Boaz,  which  "  was  the  manner  in  former  time  in 
Israel  concerning  the  redeeming,  and  concerning  changing 
for  to  confirm  all  things."  In  any  case,  even  in  much 
more  recent  times,  the  exchange  of  gloves  was  customary 
among  the  Jews  to  ratify  bargains  and  confirm 
contracts. 

Isaac   D' Israeli,   the  author  of  Curiosities  of  Litera- 
ture, and  the  father  of  Lord  Beaconsfield,  disinterred 

8 


THE   GLOVE   AS   A  SYMBOL  9 

many  interesting  details  concerning  the  symbolism  of 
the  glove  from  obscure  literary  sources,  where  they  lay 
buried. 

According  to  old  Germanic  law,  the  hand  was  the  great 
symbol  of  power,  and  no  doubt  the  glove  derived  some 
of  its  significance  from  that  fact.  Unquestionably  in 
the  Middle  Ages  the  glove  enjoyed  great  importance  as 
a  cign  r>r  +itl^  nf  inwgtitnrp.  The  Earl  of  Flanders 
in  A.D.  1294  delivered  up  the  towns  of  Bruges  and  Ghent 
to  King  Phillip  the  Fair,  by  handing  him  a  pair  of  gloves. 
Du  Cange  quotes  a  Charter  of  the  thirteenth  century, 
wherein  the  re-investiture  or  restitution  of  land  is  also 
symbolised  by  depositing  a  glove  upon  the  earth.  At  one 
time  no  town  of  Saxony  could  establish  a  free  market 
without  Imperial  sanction,  and  in  token  of  his  per- 
mission the  Emperor  was  wont  to  send  his  right  hand 
glove.  Similarly,  no  new  township  could  be  estab- 
lished without  the  same  permission,  which  was  accom- 
panied by  a  like  symbol  of  authority.  The  issue  of 
coins  was  also  conditional  upon  the  same  curious  for- 
mality, and  in  some  instances  the  recipients  would 
return  a  left-hand  glove  stocked  with  money  in 
acknowledgment . 

In  this  country  also  it  was  at  one  time  customary  to 
establish  fairs  and  markets  by  virtue  of  the  King's 
glove,  and  it  was  for  a  long  period  usual  to  display  a 
glove  prominently  upon  a  pole  in  the  centre  of  the  fair 
as  a  symbol  of  the  King's  indulgence.  Here  again  we 
have  a  typical  instance  of  the  ^use  6f  the  glove  as  a  token 
of  protection  :  for  in  many  cases  its  presence  conferred 
the  extraordinary  privilege  that  during  the  fair,  criminals 
and  debtors  enjoyed  immunity  from  arrest. 

The  use  of  the  glove  as  a  token  of  loyalty  or  champion- 
ship will  be  familiar  to  most  people.  In  the  days  of 
chivalry,  for  a  knight  to  cast  down  his  glove  or  gauntlet 


10          GLOVES  AND  THE  GLOVE  TRADE 

was  tantamount  to  a  challenge  to  combat,  and  the  usual 
mode  of  acceptance  was  for  the  challenger  to  take  up 
the  glove,  at  the  same  time  casting  down  his  own.  A 
striking  instance  of  this  custom  was  the  Royal  champion- 
ship, which  survived  until  the  nineteenth  century.  At 
the  coronation  of  a  king  or  queen  of  England  at  West- 
minster the  hereditary  champion  flung  down  his 
gauntlet,  whilst  the  herald  proclaimed  the  challenge. 
This  part  of  the  ceremony  was  first  dispensed  with  at 
the  coronation  of  Queen  Victoria. 

Steevens,  in  his  Notes  on  Shakespere,  observes  that  it 
was  "  anciently  the  custom  to  wear  gloves  in  the  hat 
on  three  distinct  occasions,  viz.,  as  the  favour  of  a 
mistress,  the  memorial  of  a  friend,  and  as  a  mark  to  be 
challenged  by  an  enemy."  Every  reader  of  Shake- 
speare will  remember  the  incident  in  Henry  V ,  where 
the  King,  the  night  before  Agincourt,  walking  in  the 
lines,  takes  a  glove  as  a  gage  from  one  of  his  men-at- 
arms. 

A  quaint  old  rhyme  of  the  sixteenth  century,  A 
Vision  of  Piers  Plowman  contains  the  following  curious 
reference  to  the  glove  : 

Yea,  I  have  lent  lords,  that  loved  me  never  after 

And  hath  made  mani  a  knight,  both  mercer  and  draper, 

That  paid  not  for  his  prentishod  one  pair  of  gloves. 

This  led  the  late  Mr.  S.  William  Beck,  in  his  Drapers' 
Dictionary,  to  suggest  that  the  glove  entered  into  the 
ancient  compact  of  apprenticeship  in  some  manner. 
It  is  impossible  to  confirm  this,  and  a  more  plausible 
explanation  of  the  rhyme  might  be  that  the  knightly 
"mercers  and  drapers  "  referred  to  were  apprenticed 
free,  that  is,  not  even  paying  the  nominal  value  of  a  pair 
of  gloves  as  premium. 

Another  instance  of  the  symbolism  bound  up  with  the 
glove  survives  to  the  present  day.  This  is  the  ancient 


THE   GLOVE    AS   A   SYMBOL  11 

custom  of  presenting  the  judge  with  a  pair  of  white 
gloves  at  a  maiden  assize  (i.e.,  when  no  cases  appear  in 
the  list  to  be  heard).  It  is  not  at  all  certain  how  the 
practice  originated,  or  when.  Undoubtedly  it  is  of 
great  antiquity.  It  has  been  suggested  that  it  sprang 
from  the  practice  of  prisoners,  who,  pardoned  after 
condemnation,  were  wont  to  present  their  judges  with 
a  pair  of  gloves.  This  latter  custom  is  referred  to  in 
an  old  seventeenth-century  rhyme,  The  Recantation 
of  an  III- Led  Life — 

Those  pardoned  men  who  took  their  princes'  loves 
(As  married  to  new  life)  do  give  you  gloves. 

From  the  foregoing  it  will  be  seen  the  glove  has  long 
figured  as  a  token  of  trust  and  of  honour,  and  also  as  a 
symbol  of  defiance.  To-day,  it  is  esteemed  the  wide- 
world  over  as  a  pledge  of  friendship  and  an  emblem  of 
confidence. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  GLOVE  IN  THE  REALM  OF  FASHION 

BEFORE  gloves  came  into  common  use,  other  expedients 
were  adopted  to  protect  the  hand  against  the  inclemency 
of  the  weather.  At  one  period  the  sleeves  of  ladies' 
robes  and  cloaks  were  made  long  enough  to  be  drawn 
down  over  the  hand.  Neither  did  men  disdain  to 
protect  themselves  from  the  cold  by  similar  means. 
Mr.  J.  R.  Planche,  in  his  Cyclopaedia  of  Costume,  instances 
examples  from  the  dress  of  Anglo-Saxon  times,  where 
the  tunics  worn  by  the  men  of  that  period  were  furnished 
with  a  long  wide  sleeve,  which  in  mild  weather  was 
wrinkled  up  at  the  wrist  and  secured  by  a  strap  or 
bracelet  of  leather,  but  which  could  be  drawn  down  over 
the  hand  in  severe  weather  to  afford  the  protection  now 
obtained  from  the  glove.  Muffs  were  also  used  for  the 
same  purpose.  Gradually,  however,  the  advantage 
to  be  derived  from  gloves  came  to  be  recognised,  and 
they  have  steadily  grown  in  popular  favour.  From 
records  still  extant  it  would  appear  safe  to  assume  that 
most  early  gloves  were  of  the  fingerless  type,  having  a 
separate  stall  for  the  thumb  only.  The  glove  fitted  with 
separate  fingers  developed  later.  In  the  first  place 
they  were  worn  for  the  warmth  or  protection  they 
afforded  their  wearers,  but  from  mere  articles  of  utility 
they  ultimately  came  to  be  regarded  both  as  a  badge 
of  rank  and  as  a  means  of  ostentation  and  display.  It 
is  impossible  at  this  distance  of  time  to  trace  the  gradual 
evolution  of  their  development  in  these  respects,  but, 
according  to  both  William  Hull  and  S.  William  Beck,  by 
the  thirteenth  century  we  find  them  figuring  in  the 

12 


THE  GLOVE  IN  THE  REALM  OF  FASHION      13 

investiture  of  kings  and  among  the  symbolical  vest- 
ments of  the  clergy.  The  gloves  of  the  early  monarchs 
were  frequently  adorned  with  precious  stones  and  richly 
decorated  with  gold  or  silver  embroidery.  In  the  case 
of  episcopal  gloves,  a  pair  worn  by  William  of  Wykeham 
are  still  preserved  at  New  College,  Oxford  (which  he 
founded  in  1379),  and  these  convey  to  us  an  idea  of  the 
ecclesiastical  gloves  of  those  days.  They  were  made  of 
red  silk,  the  backs  being  embellished  with  a  gold 
embroidered  circle  surrounding  the  sacred  monogram 
"  I.H.S."  The  thumbs  and  fingers  are  also  decorated 
with  gold  embroidery,  whilst  a  curious  embroidery 
appears  upon  the  gauntlets.  As  with  all  the  specimens 
of  early  gloves  in  existence,  these  are  somewhat  crude 
in  shape  and  appear  to  have  been  extremely  loose  in 
the  palm  and  remarkably  short  in  the  finger. 

From  these  and  similar  examples  to  be  found  in 
museums  scattered  throughout  the  country  one  is  able 
to  form  some  impression  of  the  character  of  the  gloves 
worn  in  mediaeval  ages.  No  matter  whether  they  were 
made  of  leather,  silk  or  linen,  these  early  specimens  were 
almost  without  exception  crude  and  inelegant  in  shape 
and  loosely  fitting,  but  their  lack  of  attractiveness  in  this 
respect  was  more  than  compensated  by  the  richness 
and  beauty  of  their  decoration.  In  this  country  gloves 
first  came  into  fairly  general  use  among  the  Norman 
nobility,  and  immediately  began  to  play  their  part  in 
the  realm  of  fashion.  For  a  long  period,  their  use 
seems  to  have  been  confined  to  men,  but  the  costume  of 
the  sterner  sex  in  those  days  was  far  less  sober  than  now, 
and  the  gloves  of  the  period  were  in  keeping  with  the 
rest  of  male  attire.  From  the  pages  of  William  Hull, 
J.  R.  Planche,  and  S.  W.  Beck,  we  learn  what  art  and 
skill  were  lavished  upon  these  mediaeval  gloves  to  make 
them  attractive.  Rich  embroideries,  often  executed 


14 


GLOVES  AND  THE  GLOVE  TRADE 


with  gold  or  silver  thread,  fringes  and  tassels,  and  even 
jewels   and  precious   stones,    were   employed  for  their 


From  Beck's  "  Gloves,  Their  Annals  and  Associations  " 
GLOVES    OF    HENRY    VI 

embellishment,  and  many  of  the  gloves  worn  in  those 
days  must  have  been  of  great  beauty  and  value. 

Beck,  in  his  Gloves,  their  Annals  and  Associations, 
gives  a  description  of  a  glove  once  in  the  possession  of 
Henry  VI.  This  appears  to  have  been  a  rather  plain 
and  homely  article,  and,  we  are  informed,  was  made  of 
tanned  leather,  lined  with  deerskin,  dressed  with  the 


THE  GLOVE  IN  THE  REALM  OF  FASHION      15 

hair  still  on.  In  shape  it  exhibits  all  the  lack  of  elegance 
and  shapeliness  characteristic  of  mediaeval  gloves.  In 
style  it  is  of  the  gauntlet  type,  with  the  top  of  the  gaunt- 
let rolling  back  on  to  the  wrist.  The  thumb  is  of  a 
peculiar  shape,  resembling  somewhat  a  heart  that  has 
been  elongated  towards  its  apex.  The  dimensions, 
which  are  also  given,  are  rather  interesting.  From  the 
end  of  the  middle  finger  to  the  commencement  of  the 
gauntlet  measures  Sins.,  and  the  gauntlet  Sins.,  giving 
a  total  length  of  13  ins.  At  the  thumb  this  glove  measures 

4  ins.  across,  whilst  the  gauntlet  is  rather  more  than 

5  ins.  in  width. 

Mr.  Beck,  to  whose  work  reference  has  already  been 
made,  has  probably  contributed  more  to  the  history  of 
gloves  than  any  other  writer.  His  book  is  stored  with 
a  wealth  of  detail  which  testifies  to  the  admirable  zeal 
and  painstaking  industry  with  which  he  conducted  his 
researches  after  glove  lore,  and  it  is  largely  to  him  that  we 
are  indebted  for  our  knowledge  of  the  character  of 
mediaeval  gloves.  Among  the  famous  gloves  he  describes 
and  illustrates  are  specimens  which  are  reported  to  have 
been  in  the  possession  of  prominent  personalities  in 
English  history,  notably  those  of  Henry  VIII, 
Queen  Elizabeth,  Mary  Queen  of  Scots,  James  I,  and 
Shakespeare. 

Those  of  Henry  VIII  are  hawking  gloves,  and  in  their 
heavy,  bluff  outline  present  an  appearance  strangely 
in  keeping  with  the  popular  conception  of  the  character 
of  that  monarch.  Somewhat  broad  in  the  hand,  and 
rather  short  and  broad  in  the  fingers,  they  are  of  the 
usual  gauntlet  type,  and  the  only  attempt  at  decorative 
effect  is  furnished  by  a  rather  crude  and  clumsily 
executed  circular  embroidery  on  the  gauntlet. 

In  striking  contrast  to  these  are  the  gloves  of  Queen 
Elizabeth,  the  ill-fated  Mary  Queen  of  Scots,  and  those 


By  permission  of  the  Keeper  of  the  Bodleian  Library 
GLOVES    OF    QUEEN    ELIZABETH 


THE  GLOVE  IN  THE  REALM  OF  FASHION      17 

of  James  I.  Those  of  Elizabeth  may  still  be  seen  in 
the  Bodleian  Library  at  Oxford.  They  are  reported 
to  have  been  worn  by  her  on  the  occasion  of  her  visit 
to  the  University  in  1566.  These  are  close  upon  16  ins. 
long,  and  are  finished  at  the  gauntlet  with  a  2  in.  fringe 
of  gold  thread.  The  gloves  themselves  are  of  exceedingly 
fine  white  leather,  beautifully  embroidered  with  a 
scroll-work  of  gold  thread  which  covers  the  gauntlet  and 
is  continued  round  the  base  of  the  thumb.  The  size 
of  these  gloves  is  remarkable,  the  middle  finger  being 
close  upon  5  ins.  long,  the  thumb  quite  5  ins.  and  the 
width  at  the  palm  3J  ins. 

Beautiful  as  these  gloves  are,  they  are  easily  excelled 
by  those  of  Mary  Queen  of  Scots,  which  are  (or  were 
until  recent  years)  still  preserved  in  the  Saffron- Walden 
Museum.  These  are  elegant  in  shape,  and  beautifully 
made  of  buff  coloured  leather.  The  elaborate 
embroidery  upon  the  gauntlet,  executed  in  silver  wire 
and  various  coloured  silks  is  a  remarkable  example  of 
sixteenth-century  work.  The  design  includes  roses 
carried  out  in  two  shades  of  blue  and  crimson  silk  and 
foliage  of  green  silk,  with  a  bird  in  flight.  The  gauntlet 
is  lined  with  crimson  satin,  and  finished  with  a  fringe  of 
gold  lace,  decorated  with  steel  or  silver  spangles.  The 
opening  of  the  gauntlet  is  connected  by  two  bands  of 
crimson  silk  decorated  with  silver  lace. 

Yet  another  glove  reported  to  have  belonged  to  the 
same  unfortunate  lady  is  preserved  in  the  Ashmolean 
Museum.  These  are  of  a  plainer  type,  being  neither 
so  beautiful  nor  so  ornate  as  the  Saffron -Walden  speci- 
mens. They  are  also  less  shapely,  but  the  workmanship 
is  particularly  neat.  They  are  fitted  with  a  short 
gauntlet,  which  is  embellished  with  decorative  stitching 
and  rosettes  of  ribbons.  These  gloves,  also,  are  rather 
on  the  large  side,  from  which  one  is  inclined  to  conclude 


18 


GLOVES  AND  THE  GLOVE  TRADE 


that  the  gloves  of  those  days  were  purposely  made  on 
roomy  lines,  rather  than  that  gloves  of  such  size  were 
necessitated  by  the  proportions  of  their  owners. 


By  permission  of  the  Keeper  of  the  Ashmolean  Museum 
GLOVES    OF    MARY    QUEEN    OF    SCOTS 

Other  examples  of  beautiful  sixteenth-century  glove 
wear  are  illustrated  in  Beck's  pages.  If  these  owe 
nothing  in  point  of  interest  to  their  identification 
with  illustrious  owners,  they  are  entitled  to  notice  by 
reason  of  their  sheer  beauty.  One  such  pair  of 
sixteenth-century  gloves  is  described  by  Beck  in  the 
following  passage — 


THE  GLOVE  IN  THE  REALM  OF  FASHION      19 


The  magnificent  embroidery  on  the  cuff  of  the  glove,  of  which 
both  back  and  front  are  given,  can  hardly  be  done  justice  to  in 
description,  or  even  in  colourless  print.  Every  flower,  the 
columbine  and  pink  in  particular,  the  butterflies,  and  even  a  little 
goldfinch  in  the  middle  of  the  cuff,  are  rendered  in  natural  colours 
with  an  exquisite  fidelity,  and  with  such  skill  as  to  make  them 
veritable  needle-paintings,  in  which,  too,  the  needle  well  holds 
its  own  against  the  brush.  The  work  is  done  in  fine  silk,  and  the 
shading  is  eloquent  of  the  skill  of  early  dyers,  for  the  range  of 
colours  admitting  of  such  undefinable  graduations  must  have 
been  very  extensive.  The  colours  are,  of  course,  somewhat 
faded,  but,  considering  their  age,  are  wonderfully  well-preserved. 
The  raised  gold  work  and  stitching  with  gold  thread  are  also 
in  excellent  condition,  though  the  work  has  in  some  places  worn 
out  the  white  satin  on  which,  with  such  excellent  skill,  it  was 
first  grounded.  The  glove  is  nearly  13  inches  in  total  length. 
The  whole  cuff,  4£  inches  in  depth,  is  lined  with  crimson  silk, 
and  the  side  bands  of  cloth  of  gold  ribbon,  edged  with  gold 
fringe,  were  probably  attached  to  the  gloves  to  confine  the  wide 
leeves,  and  allow  the  ornamentation  of  the  gauntlets  unhindered 
admiraton. 

Exceptional  interest  attaches  to  a  pair  of  gloves 
illustrated  and  described  in  the  same  volume.  These, 
it  is  believed,  belonged  at  one  time  to  Shakespeare.  They 
are  said  to  have  been  presented  to  Garrick  by  the  Mayor 
and  Corporation  of  Stratford-on-Avon  in  1769,  and 
ultimately  passed  into  the  possession  of  the  Benson 
family.  They  are  made  of  stout  leather,  and  are 
ornamented  with  red  and  gold  scroll  work  at  the  knuckles. 
A  fringed  yellow  ribbon  borders  the  cuff,  which  is  formed 
of  a  double  layer  of  leather,  in  the  upper  surface  of 
which  is  a  pinked  pattern. 

In  passing,  it  is  worthy  of  mention  that  there  is  some 
ground  for  assuming  that  William  Shakespeare's  father 
may  have  been  identified  with  glove  manufacture. 
Aubrey,  the  old  chronicler,  says  he  was  a  butcher,  but 
more  modern  opinion  seems  to  incline  to  the  belief  that 
he  was  a  wool  dealer  and  glover.  It  may  well  have  been 
that  he  was  all  three,  for  the  callings  of  grazier,  wool 
stapler,  and  leather  dresser  not  infrequently  went 


20  GLOVES   AND   THE   GLOVE   TRADE 

together.  In  any  case,  an  examination  of  the  poet's 
works  discloses  numerous  allusions  to  the  glover's  craft, 
and  such  knowledge  in  itself  affords  strong  presumptive 
evidence  that  at  some  time  or  another  Shakespeare  had 
ample  opportunity  to  familiarise  himself  with  the  tools 
and  processes  of  the  glover's  calling. 

To  return  to  the  part  which  the  glove  has  played  in 
the  realm  of  fashion,  the  advent  of  the  Puritans  to 
power  ushered  in  an  era  of  severity  in  costume,  and  the 
glove  suffered  in  the  general  eclipse.  The  wonderfully 
decorated  gloves  which  had  been  pre-eminent  during 
the  Tudor  and  Stuart  periods  found  no  place  in  England 
under  the  Commonwealth,  but  with  the  Restoration, 
all  the  old  tendencies  towards  lavish  ornamentation  and 
luxurious  decorations  reasserted  themselves  with  renewed 
vigour.  Embossing  and  embroidery  work  in  gold  and 
silver  thread,  rich  silk  and  satin  linings,  fringes  and 
tassels  and  exquisite  laces  were  all  employed  to  adorn 
and  beautify  gloves.  Fringed  gloves,  in  particular, 
were  very  popular  with  the  fashionable  set  in  the  days 
of  Charles  II  and  James  II,  and  the  feeling  for  them 
continued  throughout  the  first  half  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  silver  and  gold  fringes  being  specially  favoured. 
It  is  worthy  of  note  in  passing  that  the  dandies  of 
London  in  the  days  of  Beau  Brummel  were  so  enamoured 
of  fringed  gloves,  that  they  formed  a  "  Club  of  the 
Fringed  Glove,"  though  beyond  the  fact  of  its  formation 
we  know  nothing  further  of  it.  A  curious  sidelight  is 
thrown  upon  the  importance  with  which  the  glove  was 
regarded  by  the  gentlemen  of  fashion  in  the  early 
nineteenth  century,  by  the  following  rules  which,  it  is 
said,  were  laid  down  by  the  famous  Count  d'Orsay  : 
"  An  English  gentleman,"  he  said,  "  ought  to  use 
six  pairs  of  gloves  a  day.  In  the  morning  to  drive  a 
britzska  to  the  hunt,  gloves  of  reindeer.  At  the  hunt, 


THE  GLOVE  IN  THE  REALM  OF  FASHION      21 

to  follow  a  fox,  gloves  of  shammy  leather.  To  return  to 
London  in  a  Tilbury,  after  a  drive  at  Richmond  in  the 
morning,  gloves  of  beaver.  To  go  later  for  a  walk  in 
Hyde  Park,  or  to  conduct  a  lady  to  pay  her  visits, 
coloured  kid  gloves,  braided.  To  go  to  a  dinner  party, 
yellow  dog's-skin  gloves.  And  in  the  evening,  for  a  ball 
or  rout,  gloves  of  white  lamb-skin,  embroidered  with 
silk."  We  have,  happily  perhaps,  travelled  far  from 
so  slavish  a  regard  for  fashion's  decrees  as  these  rules 
would  seem  to  imply,  but  the  glove  is  still  almost 
universally  regarded  as  a  badge  of  gentility.  So  far 
as  dress  gloves  are  concerned,  however,  a  few  years  ago 
no  gentleman  would  appear  at  a  dinner  or  dance  without 
a  pair  ;  to-day  they  are  rarely  used  except  at  court  or 
state  functions. 

Latterly,  with  the  demand  expanding  in  an  ever 
widening  circle,  the  bulk  of  the  trade  to-day  is  naturally 
concerned  with  gloves  of  fairly  stereotyped  character. 
Still,  style  changes  do  take  place  from  generation  to 
generation  and  from  season  to  season,  even  in  the  most 
work-a-day  sections  of  the  trade.  Thus,  where  a  few 
years  ago  the  ordinary  glace  kid  glove  represented  the 
principal  type  called  for,  to-day  it  would  be  difficult 
to  ascribe  pre-eminent  popularity  to  any  single  class  of 
glove.  Certainly  there  would  seem  to  be  almost  as 
great  a  demand  for  chamois,  wash-leather,  degrains, 
suedes,  and  fabrics,  as  for  those  of  the  glace  variety. 

Naturally,  being  an  auxiliary  article  of  attire,  the 
glove  is  inevitably  influenced  by  the  changing  moods 
of  fashion  in  costume.  This  applies  more  particularly, 
of  course,  in  the  ladies'  section  of  the  trade.  To-day  it 
needs,  perhaps,  to  be  emphasised  that  this  tendency 
of  the  glove  to  reflect  the  variations  of  fashion  is  becoming 
somewhat  more  marked  in  the  cheaper  branches  of  the 
trade  than  was  wont  to  be  the  case  formerly.  Women, 


22         GLOVES  AND  THE  GLOVE  TRADE 

even  working  class  women,  are  much  more  discriminating 
than  they  used  to  be.  Witness  the  tremendous  demand 
for  fringed  gloves  in  recent  years  following  a  vogue 
for  fringe.  A  craze  for  stiff  gauntlets  of  a  military  type 
during  the  war  furnishes  another  instance  of  the  same 
kind.  Again,  coloured  gloves  to  match  the  tones  and 
shades  popularly  adopted  from  season  to  season  are 
also  sought  after.  Nevertheless,  it  remains  true  that  the 
various  styles  of  ordinary  wrist-length  glove,  in  tan 
glace,  slate  or  sable  suede  or  degrain  will  always  find  a 
sale  to-day,  no  matter  what  strange  and  fantastic  whims 
are  abroad. 

So  far  as  the  fashion  end  of  the  trade  is  concerned, 
however,  a  visit  to  any  of  the  large  wholesale  glove 
houses,  or  to  any  of  the  great  drapery  emporiums  of 
London,  Paris  or  New  York,  would  be  sufficient  to 
disabuse  the  minds  of  those  who  imagine  that  the 
making  of  gloves  of  superlative  elegance  is  a  lost  art. 
In  some  respects,  notably  in  originality  of  conception, 
variety  of  design,  and  beauty  of  workmanship,  the 
modern  gloves  of  fashion  excel  those  of  earlier  periods. 
While  they  lack  the  over-elaborate  ornamentation  of 
the  Tudor,  Stuart  and  Restoration  periods,  their 
superior  cut  and  finish  and  the  tasteful  beauty  of 
decoration  compel  our  admiration.  Many  large  manu- 
facturers make  a  speciality  of  this  branch  of  the  trade, 
and  every  season  now  brings  its  quota  of  new  styles 
and  innovations.  Highly  skilled  designers,  thoroughly 
familiar  with  the  processes  of  the  industry  (and  fully 
conversant,  be  it  said,  with  the  limitations  as  well  as 
the  possibilities  of  the  glover's  art)  are  retained  by  the 
makers,  and  the  combination  of  their  art  with  the 
skill  and  craft  of  the  operative  glover  results  in  the 
production  of  the  fine  gloves  which  adorn  the  hands  of 
the  leaders  of  fashion  in  the  world's  capitals 


CHAPTER  IV 

LEATHER   GLOVES  I     SKINS   AND   THEIR   ORIGIN 

IN  the  preceding  chapters  we  have  dwelt  briefly  upon  the 
glove  as  an  article  of  fashion  :  we  will  now  devote  our 
attention  to  its  position  in  the  world  of  commerce. 

Broadly  speaking,  there  are  three  distinct  classes  of 
gloves,  i.e.,  (1)  Leather  Gloves,  (2)  Fabric  Gloves, 
(3)  Knitted  Gloves.  Leather  gloves  and  knitted  gloves 
without  doubt  are  of  great  age.  What  is  now  usually 
termed  the  fabric  glove  is  of  comparatively  modern 
development,  although  gloves  of  silk,  linen  and  other 
fabrics  are  referred  to  in  old  documents.  In  recent 
years  the  manufacture  of  this  latter  type  has  made 
striking  progress,  and  many  people  in  the  trade  believe 
it  has  an  even  still  greater  future  before  it.  Neverthe- 
less, leather  gloves  still  take  pride  of  place,  and  represent 
the  largest  and  most  important  branch  of  the  industry, 
fabric  gloves  coming  next  in  order  of  importance,  and 
knitted  gloves  last.  Taking  them  in  this  order  we  will 
deal  with  leather  gloves  first. 

In  the  early  days  of  the  glove  industry,  leather 
gloves  were  almost  always  made  of  either  deer  skin 
(buck  skin)  or  sheep  skin.  Nowadays,  however,  gloves 
are  made  from  a  wide  variety  of  skins  Those  chiefly 
used  are  kid,  goat,  sheep,  lamb,  reindeer,  antelope, 
gazelle,  calf  and  colt  Kid  and  goat  skins,  and  lamb 
and  sheep  skins  supply  the  greatest  part  of  the  leathers 
used  for  gloving,  whilst  reindeer,  antelope  and  gazelle 
are  used  largely — when  available.  We  mention  calf 
and  colt,  for  although  they  are  rarely  used  to-day  for 
glove-making  they  were  employed  formerly  to  a  limited 
extent.  Colt  skins  are  still  used  in  America  for 
workmen's  gloves. 

23 

3— (1463j) 


24          GLOVES  AND  THE  GLOVE  TRADE 

The  French  undoubtedly  were  the  first  to  discover 
that  kid  skins  possessed  special  qualities  which  rendered 
them  eminently  suitable  for  glove-making,  and  to  that 
fact,  coupled  with  the  development  of  exceptional 
skill  in  skin-dressing,  France  owes  the  pre-eminent 
position  she  has  so  long  enjoyed  for  the  production  of 
fine-quality  gloves^  So  long  as  the  British  glovers  were 


immune  from  the  effects  of  foreign  competition  they  were 
content  to  rely  mainly  upon  home  supplies  of  raw 
material,  chiefly  sheep,  lamb  and  deer  skins.  After  the 
removal  of  the  prohibition  against  the  importation  of 
foreign  gloves  into  England  (1825),  however,  in  order  to 
meet  competition  from  France,  British  glove  makers 
commenced  to  import  kid-skins  in  much  larger  quantities 
and  to  dress  them  in  the  continental  manner.  For  a 
long  time,  the  British  trade  suffered  severely  owing  to 
keen  competition  from  across  the  Channel  (French 
manufacturers  holding  the  advantage  of  having  ample 
supplies  of  skins  near  at  hand  and  abundant  supplies 
of  cheap  labour).  Steadily,  however,  the  English 
industry  found  its  feet,  and,  largely  owing  to  the  enter- 
prise and  far-sightedness  of  a  few  eminent  firms,  who 
concentrated  upon  the  production  of  sound,  reliable 
articles,  British  gloves  have  won  a  special  reputation 
in  the  world's  markets  by  virtue  of  their  outstanding 
merits.  Latterly  the  industry  has  extended  its  efforts, 
and  to-day  the  home  trade  is  probably  in  a  stronger 
position  than  ever  in  its  history. 

Without  doubt,  kid  skins  furnish  the  finest  and  thin- 
nest of  all  leathers,  and  from  them  the  majority  of  the 
lightest  and  best  quality  gloves  are  made.  Practically 
all  the  supplies  of  these  skins  are  drawn  from  Europe, 
France  being  the  principal  centre,  with  Switzerland, 
Germany,  Austria,  Northerrultaly,  Belgium  and  Ireland 
providing  smaller  quantities.  lureland,  by  the  way,  was 


LEATHER   GLOVES  :     SKINS   AND   THEIR   ORIGIN       25 

at  one  time  famous  for  supplying  particularly  fine  skins 
for  a  special  type  of  glove  known  as  "  Limericks."] 
It  is  said  that  these  were  taken  from  kids  born  pre- 
maturely. (Large  quantities  of  kid  skins  come  also  from 
South  America.  '  The  flocks  of  kids  whose  skins  are 
destined  for  the  glove  industry  are  raised  mainly  in 
mountainous  districts.  In  France,  the  kids  are  specially 
bred  and  reared,  and  special  attention  is  paid  to  their 
nurture  so  as  to  avoid  any  blemish  in  their  skins  which 
would  be  likely  to  detract  from  the  value  of  the  finished 
leather.  Milk-fed  kids  furnish  the  finest  skins,  for  so  soon 
as  the  animal  begins  to  eat  herbage  its  skin  thickens  and 
coarsens.  Sometimes,  however,  the  kids  are  allowed  to 
grow  to  their  full  stature,  and  when  they  are  full-grown 
they  are  known  as  "  chevrettes  "  (the  French  designa- 
tion for  goats).  As  such,  their  skins  yield  a  particularly 
clear  and  strong  leather,  remarkable  for  the  perfection 
of  its  grain.  Many  of  the  so-called  "  kid  "  gloves  sold 
to-day  are  made  from  lamb  skins,  owing  to  the  shortage 
of  suitable  kid  skins. 

Sheep  and  lamb  skins  fall  next  in  order  of  importance. 
The  chief  centres  of  supply  are  Russia,  South  Africa, 
Italy,  Spain  and  the  South-Eastern  countries  of  Europe 
(The  Balkans),  South  America  again  contributing  a 
smaller  quota. 

South  African  sheep  produce  an  excellent  heavy- 
weight skin,  of  a  particularly  large  spread,  but  tight 
fine  grain.  Formerly  supplies  were  almost  exclusively 
drawn  from  the  Cape  and  Port  Elizabeth  districts — 
hence  the  origin  of  the  "  Cape  "  glove.  So-called 
"  Cape  "  gloves  of  the  present  day  are  no  longer  made 
exclusively  from  South  African  skins,  which  are  largely 
used  for  heavy-weight  gloves,  such  as  motor  and 
military  gauntlets. 

Some  of  the  very  best  types  of  lamb  skins  come  from 


26          GLOVES  AND  THE  GLOVE  TRADE 

Russia.  These  are  known  in  the  trade  as  "  Kasans." 
At  present  (1920)  owing  to  the  troubles  in  Russia  these 
are  hard  to  obtain. 

Excellent  lamb  skins  are  also  obtained  from  Spain. 

The  "  Mocha "  or  Arabian  Hair  Sheep  furnishes 
another  skin  very  widely  used  for  leather  gloves.  The 
Arabian  Hair  Sheep  according  to  some  authorities  is  a 
distinct  type  ;  others  contend  that  they  have  been 
developed  by  the  inter-breeding  of  Mocha  goats  and  a 
species  of  sheep.  Their  pelts  are  known  variously 
to  skin-buyers  as  "  blackheads,"  "  redheads,"  and 
"  whiteheads,"  according  to  the  colour  of  the  hair  on 
the  poll  or  head  of  the  animal.  Gloves  made  from  these 
skins  are  often  confused  with  "  suede  "  and  so-called 
"  doe  "  and  "  chamois  "  gloves.  Arabian  sheep  skins, 
however,  are  not  "  sueded,"  but  "  degrained,"  or 
"  frized  "  which  is  quite  a  different  process. 

The  district  between  Cairo  and  Khartoum  supplies 
another  special  type  of  sheep  skin  known  as  "  Soudans," 
whilst  Indian  sheep  skins  are  also  used  to  a  certain 
extent. 

Returning  to  lamb  skins,  these  are  procured  from  all 
over  Europe  and  from  parts  of  South  America.  The 
finest  grade  of  all  lamb  skins,  known  as  "  Tuscany 
skins,"  come  from  Southern  Italy  and  are  used  for  the 
very  highest  class  of  lamb  skin  gloves.  At  one  time  the 
home  supplies  of  lamb  and  sheep  skins  entered  very 
largely  into  glove-making.  To-day  they  are  nothing 
like  so  extensively  used  for  "  grain  "  leathers,  being  of  a 
rather  coarse  grain  and  lacking  durability.  They  still 
enter  largely  into  the  making  of  "  doe  "  and  "  chamois  " 
leathers.  During  the  war,  however,  many  thousand 
pairs  of  trench  and  motor-transport  gloves  were  manu- 
factured from  them.  These  were  made  from  sheep  and 
heavy  lamb  skins  dressed  with  the  wool  on,  the  glove 


LEATHER   GLOVES  I     SKINS   AND   THEIR   ORIGIN        27 

being  made  with  the  wool  inside  for  warmth.  Similar 
gloves  are  also  made  for  farming  use  and  rough  driving 
wear.  Fine  short  wool  lamb  skins  from  the  Pyrenees 
and  China  are  also  dressed  with  the  wool  on  and  utilised 
largely  for  lining  ordinary  leather  gloves. 

It  is  a  peculiar  fact  that  those  sheep  yielding  the  best 
wool  do  not  generally  furnish  the  best  skins  for  glove 
making.  Normally,  the  more  hairy  and  wiry  the  wool 
the  better  the  skin  from  the  glover's  point  of  view.  One 
reason  suggested  is  that  the  more  wiry  the  wool  the 
finer  and  closer  the  grain  of  the  leather — an  important 
point  in  gloving. 

The  German  and  Austrian  glove- makers  used  to 
buy  very  large  quantities  of  lamb  skins  from  the 
Balkans. 

Gazelle  skins  are  still  used  to  a  fairly  large  extent  in 
the  glove  trade.  They  are  obtained  from  the  hinterland 
of  Aden,  and  Africa,  and  are  sometimes  known  as  the 
African  small  deer. 

Reindeer  skins,  which  furnish  one  of  the  finest 
leathers  for  gloving  are  obtained  from  Alaska,  Russia 
and  North  Western  Europe. 

The  foregoing  will  introduce  the  reader  to  the  principal 
skins  used  in  the  leather  glove  trade.  Before  proceeding 
to  describe  the  various  processes  through  which  they 
must  pass  ere  they  reach  the  hands  of  the  glove-maker, 
it  is  necessary  to  refer  to  a  few  popular  terms  which  are 
frequently  subject  to  misconception. 

In  the  first  place,  considerable  confusion  exists  as 
to  the  terms  "  dressed  kid  "  and  "undressed  kid."  All 
skins,  of  course,  must  be  dressed  before  they  become 
leather,  but  some  are  dressed  and  finished  on  the  hair 
side  (known  in  the  trade  as  the  "  grain  "  side)  of  the  skin, 
and  some  upon  the  flesh  side.  "  Dressed  "kid  is  the 
designation  of  the  former,  which  gives  a  grain  or  glace 


28  GLOVES   AND    THE    GLOVE   TRADE 

finish,  whilst  the  latter  are  known  as  "  undressed  " 
kid.  Sometimes,  however,  the  hair  or  grain  surface 
of  the  skin  is  removed,  when  the  skins  are  known  as 
"  degrains,"  "  chamois  "  or  "  doe,"  but  are  sometimes 
classed  as  "  undressed  "  kid. 

Glove  trade  nomenclature  is  often  very  misleading. 
Some  terms  which  had  at  one  time  a  certain  well-defined 
meaning  and  were  applied  strictly  to  specific  articles, 
in  the  course  of  time  have  taken  on  a  much  wider 
significance  ;  the  field  of  their  application  has  become 
enlarged.  "  Cape  "  gloves  furnish  a  case  in  point. 
Originally  applied  to  gloves  made  from  skins  procured 
from  Cape  Colony,  the  name  is  now  used  for  gloves  made 
from  the  skins  of  sheep,  lambs,  and  even  goats^obtained 
from  many  other  lands  than  South  Africa,  which  have 
been  finished  by  the  method  known  as  "  Nappa " 
dipping  or  "  Staining." 

Similarly,  the  term  "  Mocha  "  is  sometimes  wrongly 
applied  to  gloves  made  by  the  "  sued  ing  "  process. 
Suede  leather  is  dressed  on  the  flesh  side  of  the  skin, 
but  the  leather  for  "  Mocha  "  gloves  is  "  friezed  "  or 
"  frized  "  and  not  "  sueded,"  and  the  finished  or  wearing 
surface  is  on  the  hair  or  grain  side  of  the  skin,  the  grain 
being  removed  to  take  the  finish.  "  Chamois  "  is  another 
term  which  deserves  a  word  or  two  of  explanation.  To 
the  laymen,  the  chamois  (a  species  of  mountain  goat 
peculiar  to  Switzerland)  furnishes  the  raw  material  for 
all  leather  and  gloves  known  as  "chamois."  The  genuine 
chamois,  is  practically  extinct  so  far  as  glove-making 
is  concerned.  Here  again,  the  name  is  preserved  and 
applied  to  a  special  manner  of  treating  the  leather.  The 
"  genuine  "  chamois  of  to-day  is  usually  nothing  more  nor 
less  than  sheep  or  lamb  skin,  specially  dressed  with  oil, 
or  maybe  chromed.  Gloves  so  made  possess  admirable 
washing  qualities — a  fact  which  is  largely  due  to  the 


LEATHER   GLOVES  I     SKINS   AND   THEIR   ORIGIN        29 

absence  of  acids  or  dyes,  which  otherwise  would  tend  to 
harden  the  leather  in  washing. 

Sheep  skins,  particularly  the  heavier  varieties,  are  often 
split  from  edge  to  edge,  yielding  two  thinner  skins. 
That  portion  bearing  the  grain  surface  is  known  as  a 
"  skiver,"  while  the  flesh  side,  or  lower  portion,  is  termed 
a  "flesher."  It  is  from  these  latter  that  the  leathers 
known  throughout  the  trade  as  "  chamois "  and 
"  doe  skins  "  are  often  produced. 

Before  concluding  this  cursory  survey  of  the  various 
skins  used  in  the  leather  glove  trade,  it  will  not  be  out 
of  place  to  interpolate  a  few  words  as  to  the  prospects 
for  supplies  during  the  next  few  years.  The  late  war, 
which  convulsed  the  world  with  devastation,  has  had 
a  very  serious  effect  on  the  trade.  In  the  first  place 
tremendous  inroads  were  made  upon  the  stocks  of  all 
sorts  of  leathers  which  were  required  for  many  different 
articles  of  military  equipment.  In  addition  to  this, 
the  serious  shortage  of  food  experienced  all  over  Europe 
during  the  war  led  to  the  slaughter  of  all  edible  animals 
on  a  wholesale  scale,  and  the  flocks  of  kids,  sheep  and 
lambs  whose  skins  were  normally  utilized  for  glove 
making  suffered  with  the  rest.  In  the  combatant 
countries,  many  of  the  shepherds  and  goat-herds  were 
withdrawn  from  their  avocations  and  sent  away  on 
active  service  ;  their  flocks,  in  consequence,  went 
frequently  neglected  and  untended.  The  result  of  all 
this  was  visible  soon  after  the  Armistice  (llth  November, 
1918)  when  the  glove  manufacturers  began  to  devote 
their  energies  to  the  revival  of  trading  under  peace 
conditions.  The  herds  of  goats  and  kids  and  sheep 
and  lambs  were  then  found  to  be  seriously  depleted 
in  numbers,  but,  what  was  more  disconcerting,  very  many 
of  the  animals  remaining  were  in  poor  condition.  Early 
in  1919,  it  was  estimated  that  the  quantity  of  skins 


30          GLOVES  AND  THE  GLOVE  TRADE 

in  sight  for  that  year  was  only  just  short  of  one-fourth 
of  the  normal  pre-war  annual  supply.  Obviously,  then, 
the  shortage  cannot  be  regarded  as  of  a  temporary 
character,  and  it  is  evident  that  years  must  elapse 
before  the  herds  can  be  restored  to  their  pre-war 
strength  and  condition. 

Meanwhile  the  demand  for  leather  gloves  continues 
unabated,  and  in  fact  tends  to  expand.  Further,  it  has 
to  be  remembered  that  practically  all  the  skins  suitable 
for  glove-making  are  also  in  demand  by  other  indus- 
tries— ladies'  shoes  and  fancy  leather  goods  particularly. 
In  addition,  Fashion,  with  the  strange  caprice  that  some- 
times seems  to  sway  her  moods,  has  recently  decreed  in 
favour  of  the  use  of  soft  leather  for  millinery  and  dress 
trimmings.  All  this  has  naturally  intensified  the 
competition  for  the  very  skins  glovers  need  for  their 
industry.  Thus  we  come  face  to  face  with  one  of  the 
main  factors  which  have  contributed  to  force  up  the 
price  of  all  kinds  of  leather  gloves  to  levels  undreamt  of 
in  pre-war  years. 

In  addition  to  this  increase  in  the  cost  of  the  principle 
raw  material,  the  costs  of  making  the  gloves  have  also 
advanced  enormously.  This  applies,  of  course,  to  every 
one  of  the  very  numerous  operations  which  enter  into 
the  making  of  the  glove.  The  prices  of  all  materials 
used  in  skin-dressing  have  increased  considerably  as 
compared  with  pre-war  levels,  so  too  have  the  silk  and 
cotton  threads  used  in  sewing  ;  whilst  finally  much 
enhanced  wages  are  now  being  paid  to  all  workers 
throughout  the  industry.  Thus  it  will  be  understood 
that  cheap  leather  gloves — as  "  cheapness  "  was  under- 
stood before  the  war  came  to  shatter  our  notions  of 
value — can  no  longer  be  obtained. 


CHAPTER  V 

SKIN-DRESSING   AND   TREATMENT 

SKIN-DRESSING  for  the  glove  trade  is  a  specialised  indus- 
try, and  involves  a  long  series  of  complicated  processes. 
The  various  stages  occupy  anything  from  6  to  8  weeks, 
the  time  varying  according  to  the  kind  of  skins  being 
treated,  the  character  of  the  dressing  or  tannage,  the 
locality  where  dressing  takes  place,  and  the  season  of  the 
year.  Glove  leather-dressing  is  now  carried  on  at  almost 
every  centre  where  glove-  factories  are  to  be  found,  both 
at  home  and  abroad^  Spain  was  at  one  time  famous  for 
dressing  glove  leathers,  if  an  old  adage  is  to  be  believed, 
for  it  used  to  be  said  :  "  For  a  glove  to  be  good  three 
realms  must  have  contributed  to  it,  Spain  to  prepare  the 
skin,  France  to  cut  it,  and  England  to  sew  it."  Times 
have  changed,  and  Spain  to-day  supplies  few  dressed 
skins  for  the  glove  trade.  France  is  one  of  the  principal 
countries  for  such,  supplying  many  parcels  to  this 
country  as  well  as  to  the  French  glovers.  The  chief 
French  centres  are  Annonay,  Grenoble,  Millau  and 
St.  Junien.  Annonay  since  the  fourteenth  century 
has  been  pre-eminent  for  dressed  skins,  and  its  reputa- 
tion in  this  respect  is  referred  to  in  Mrs.  Henry  Wood's 
well-known  glove  trade  novel,  Mrs.  Halliburton^  Troubles. 
Ottignies,  near  Brussels,  Naples  in  Italy,  Munich  in 
Bavaria,  and  Prague  in  Bohemia,  are  also  well-known 
dressing  centres.  In  England,  many  thousands  of  skins 
are  dressed  annually  in  the  Yeovil  district,  at  Abingdon 
in  Berkshire  and  at  Worcester. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  character  of  the  water  of 
various  localities  has  considerable  bearing  upon  leather- 
dressing,  although  some  of  the  extravagant  claims 

31 


32         GLOVES  AND  THE  GLOVE  TRADE 

advanced  in  favour  of  certain  districts  can  be  largely 
discounted.  That  there  is  a  great  deal  of  truth  in  the 
theory  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  some  localities 
seem  to  yield  better  results  than  others  even  when  there 
is  little  or  nothing  to  choose  between  the  skill  and 
experience  of  the  dressers  concerned.  The  softer  the 
water  the  better,  whilst  the  presence  of  certain  bacteria 
is  also  an  advantage. 

In  the  previous  chapter  the  various  .skins  now  used 
for  gloving  were  described  in  detail.  Tney  are  purchased 
in  their  raw  state  in  the  different  centres  where  the 
animals  are  reared.  They  ai;e  then  in  the  "  pelt  " 
stage,  that  is,  with  the  hair  or  wool  still  upon  them. 
Before  they  can  be  transported  or  stored  they  have  to 
be  cured  or  treated  to  prevent  decomposition  and  damage 
by  worms.  There  are  several  methods  of  effecting  this. 
Some  skins  are  merely  sun-dried,  others  are  salted  and 
dried.  Small  skins  are  frequently  dried  and  sprayed 
with  napthalene.  Others  are  wet  salted  and  packed  in 
barrels,  a  method  which  many  leather-dressers  would 
like  to  see  more  generally  adopted,  although  it  adds 
considerably  to  the  cost  of  packing  and  shipment. 
Again,  large,  skins  are  sometimes  treated  with  both  salt 
and  lime. /, Notwithstanding  all  these  precautions, 
great  care  has  to  be  exercised  while  the  skins  are  stored 
prior  to  dressing  in  order  to  prevent  damage  by  maggots 
or  worms.  Constant  changes  of  position  and  frequent 
spraying  with  napthalene  are  the  most  effective  safe- 
guards against  deterioration.  Subsequently  the  skins 
are  sorted,  being  graded  according  to  size,  weight  and 
condition,  and  baled  for  transhipment. 

On  arrival  at  the  dressing  yards  the  skins  are  very 
dirty  and  greasy,  and  the  preliminary  treatment  they 
undergo  is  a  cleansing  process,  known  as  soaking,  which 
clears  away  all  foreign  matter  and  impurities.  To 


•1 


k 


34          GLOVES  AND  THE  GLOVE  TRADE 

effect  this,  the  skins  with  hair  or  wool  still  on  are  placed 
in  tanks  or  pits  of  clear,  soft  water.  There  they  are 
left  to  lie  for  some  time.  Salted  hides  require  a  longer 
soaking  than  those  which  have  been  merely  dried  or 
treated  with  napthalene,  whilst  a  longer  soaking  is 
usually  necessary  in  winter,  when  the  water  is  less  soft, 
than  during  the  summer.  After  being  thoroughly 
soaked,  the  skins  are  sometimes  passed  through  a  rolling 
machine,  resembling  in  principle  the  ordinary  household 
mangle,  but  the  rollers  of  which  have  a  rubber  surface. 
This  operation  squeezes  a  good  deal  of  water  from  the 
wool  or  hair  of  the  skins  and  with  it  much  of  the  dirt 
and  impurities  adhering  to  the  wool. 

The  next  operation  is  that  ofjiepilatiori.  or  the  removal 
of  the  wool  or  hair.  There  are  several  means  of  dehairing 
or  unhairing,  as  it  is  more  commonly  called.  Formerly 
the  use  of  a  solution  of  ordinary  lime  was  the  only  method 
adopted,  but  latterly  pastes  made  of  sulphide  of  sodium 
or  red  arsenic  in  combination  with  lime  furnish  more 
expeditious  means  of  loosening  the  hair.  Every  dresser 
makes  his  own  paste  and  the  strength  of  the  solution 
naturally  varies  between  one  yard  and  another.  Usually 
the  proportions  of  the  solution  vary  from  six  to  eight 
parts  of  lime  to  one  of  sulphate  of  sodium  or  red  arsenic. 
Powdered  lime  is  preferable,  and  it  must  be  well  mixed 
with  the  other  ingredient  in  water.  Some  time  is  allowed 
for  the  lime  to  slake  off  and  the  paste  is  then  thickly 
painted  over  the  flesh  sides  of  the  skins,  care  being  taken 
to  see  that  the  solution  does  not  touch  the  wool,  which 
would  otherwise  be  damaged.  The  skins  are  then 
folded,  wool  side  outwards,  and  left  to  stand  for  hours, 
by  which  time  the  hair-sheaths  or  cells  are  loosened 
and  the  wool  or  hair  can  be  easily  removed.  The 
sulphide  of  soda  solution  is  most  generally  used  for  sheep 
and  lamb  skins,  and  the  red  arsenic  for  goat  and  kid 


SKIN   DRESSING   AND   TREATMENT  35 

skins,  and  their  use  is  thought  to  improve  the  grain. 
Before  the  adoption  of  such  depilitants,  after  being 
loosened  with  lime  the  hair  or  wool  was  removed  from  the 
skins  by  the  "  beaming  "  process.  The  "  beam  "  is  a 
sloping  convex-shaped  balk  supported  by  a  trestle, 
and  the  "  beaming  knife  "  a  blunt  convex-shaped 
knife  with  two  handles.  The  skins  are  laid  over  the 
"  beam  "  and  the  loosened  wool  or  hair  scraped  off  with 
the  knife.  Now,  by  the  use  of  modern  depilitants  it 
is  possible  to  pull  the  wool  or  hair  off  by  hand.  At 
Grenoble,  and  often  elsewhere,  fine  kid  skins  are  still 
unhaired  by  thejjme  and  beaming  methods. 

Sometimes,  of  course,  the  skins  are  dressed  with  the 
hair  and  wool  still  on,  and  used  for  gloves  with  the 
natural  covering  of  the  animal  for  lining.  Small  lamb 
and  antelope  skins  are  frequently  treated  in  this  way. 

After  unhairing  the  skins  are  thoroughly  washed  in 
rotary  paddle  washing  machines,  and  then  placed  to 
soak  in  lime  pits  for  some  weeks.  The  lime  pits  are 
rectangular  in  shape,  the  fronts  of  which  arc  preferably 
constructed  so  as  to  slope  back  to  the  pit  in  order  to 
facilitate  the  draining  of  the  skins.  The  lime  used  is 
carefully  slaked,  all  lumps  being  eliminated  or  reduced 
to  paste  in  the  process,  for  unslaked  lime  would  burn 
the  skins,  doing  irreparable  damage.  The  well-known 
purifying  and  cleansing  properties  of  lime  have  the  effect 
_of_Jooseiiing  all  small  hairs,  hair  cells,  and  particles  of 
flesh  preparatory  to  fleshing.  The  skins  remain  in  the 
lime  pits  from  ajfortnight  to  a  month  or  more,  and  they 
are  frequently  taken  out  of  the  pits,  "  hauled  out  " 
or  left  to  drain  a  short  time,  and  then  returned  to  the 
same  pit  or  another  pit  containing  a  fresher  solution  of 
lime.  After  liming  the  skins  are  first  subjected  to  another 
course  of  washing  in  a  paddle  washing  machine,  and  then 
passed  on  to  the  fleshing  department. 


36          GLOVES  AND  THE  GLOVE  TRADE 

The  fleshing  operation,  as  the  name  implies,  has  for 
its  object  the  removal  of  all  the  loose  particles  of  flesh 
from  the  flesh  side  of  the  skin.  Formerly  done  entirely 
by  hand  by  means  of  a  special  knife,  the  work  is  now 
largely  done  in  a  fleshing  machine.  The  hand  operation 
calls  for  exceptional  dexterity.  The  fleshing  knife  is 
shaped  much  like  the  beaming  knife,  but  has  two  edges, 
the  inner  of  which  is  keen  and  sharp  and  the  outer 
blunt  and  dull.  The  dull  edge  is  used  to  scrape  away 
the  particles  of  flesh  loosened  in  the  liming  process, 
whilst  the  keen  edge  is  used  to  shave  off  the  remainder. 
Great  skill  and  care  are  necessary  to  avoid  cutting  into 
the  skin  itself.  Fleshing  machines,  which  are  now 
rapidly  superseding  the  hand  process,  are  nearly  all 
constructed  on  the  same  principle.  Spiral  knives  are 
mounted  upon  a  cylindrical  roller,  half  the  blades  con- 
verging to  the  left  and  half  to  the  right.  The  skins  are 
fed  into  the  machine  grain  side  downwards  and  passed 
under  the  knife  cylinder  which  rotates  at  high  speed 
and  cuts  away  all  superfluous  flesh. 

Fleshing,  by  the  way,  occasionally  reveals  defects  in 
a  skin  which  render  it  absolutely  unsuitable  for  glove 
leather.  All  wool  and  hair-bearing  animals  are  fond  of 
scratching  themselves  by  rubbing  against  bushes  or 
by  rolling  in  grass  stubble.  It  sometimes  happens  that 
in  so  doing  their  coats  get  covered  with  minute  thorns  or 
pieces  of  sharp  spear  grass.  These  have  a  trick  of 
penetrating  right  through  the  hide  of  the  animals,  where 
they  often  pass  unnoticed  until  the  operation  of 
"  fleshing  "  burrs  them  up  and  causes  them  to  form  small 
holes  in  the  skin  itself.  The  writer  has  seen  a  lamb 
skin  so  damaged  that  after  fleshing  it  appeared  to  be  as 
full  of  holes  as  a  strainer. 

Deliming  follows,  in  which  the  skins  are  washed  in 
warm  or  soft  water  in  rotary  paddle  washing  machines. 


SKIN   DRESSING   AND   TREATMENT  37 

The  next  step,  "  puering,"  is  one  of  very  great  impor- 
tance. Hitherto  the  skins  have  retained  their  harsh 
and  rather  gristly  character  and  the  object  of  the  puering 
process  is  to  render  them  more  soft  and  supple.  Puering 
also  saponifies  the  lime  and  facilitates  its  removal. 
Formerly  dog-manure  was  used  universally  for  puering 
glove  leather,  but  in  recent  years  the  substitution  of 
artificial  puers  has  become  general.  One  of  the  best 
known  chemical  puers  is  "  Pancreol  "  which  is  composed 
of  pancreatic  extracts  in  combination  with  ammonium 
salts  and  sawdust.  The  pancreatic  extract  is  obtained 
from  the  intestines  of  pigs  and  other  small  animals. 
Animal  galls  and  enzymes  are  also  used  to  good  effect. 
Many  leather-dressers,  however,  still  contend  that  the 
dog-manure  yielded  better  results,  but  the  drawbacks 
associated  with  securing  suitable  supplies,  and  the 
difficulty  of  standardising  the  strength  of  the  mixture  are 
causing  it  to  be  discarded.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the 
use  of  chemical  puers  is  attended  with  many  advantages, 
and  on  hygienic  grounds  alone  their  substitution  for 
dog  puer  is  to  be  commended.  Puering,  again,  is  a  wet 
process,  the  puer  being  put  into  solution  with  warm 
water  and  the  skins  soaked  in  the  mixture  until  reduced 
to  the  necessary  degree  of  softness. 

After  puering  the  skins  are  again  thoroughly  washed 
and  subsequently  drenched.  Drenching  is  a  fermenta- 
tion process,  in  which  the  skins  are  placed  overnight  in 
a  vat  or  tub  containing  an  infusion  of  warm  water  and 
either  wheaten  flour,  pea  meal,  or  bran.  Fermentation 
takes  place  and  by  the  following  day  the  skins  are  found 
to  be  floating  on  the  surface  of  the  water  in  a  very 
swollen  and  puffed-up  condition.  Some  dressers  regard 
a  single  "  rising  "  of  the  skins  as  sufficient,  but  others 
force  the  skins  under  water  and  allow  the  "  rising  "  to  be 
repeated  several  times.  French  dressers,  in  particular, 


38,        GLOVES  AND  THE  GLOVE  TRADE 

attach  great  importance  to  repeated  "  risings."  By 
this  process  the  last  vestiges  of  lime  are  removed  from  the 
skin,  which  is  by  now  reduced  to  a  soft,  pulpy,  gelatinous 
substance,  in  which  condition  it  will  readily  absorb  the 
"  tawing  "  or  "  tanning  "  ingredients  necessary  to 
convert  it  into  leather.  Drenching  is  followed  by 
"  scudding,"  which  is  the  last  of  the  cleansing  steps 
preparatory  to  "  tanning  "  or  "  tawing."  First  the 
skins  are  rinsed  in  warm  or  tepid  water  and  then  the 
"  scud,"  consisting  of  particles  of  lime  deposit,  short 
hairs  and  scum,  is  gently  scraped  off  the  grain  with  a 
scudding  tool  which  though  shaped  something  like  a 
beaming  knife  is  fitted  with  a  blade  of  slate  or  vulcanite. 

Up  to  this  point  most  skins,  no  matter  their  origin  and 
no  matter  the  finish  to  be  imparted  to  them,  have  under- 
gone much  the  same  treatment.  They  are  now  in  the 
stage  known  throughout  the  trade  as  "in  the  white." 
All  the  operations  hitherto  described,  however,  are 
preparatory  to  the  process  of  leather-dressing  proper. 

There  are  several  methods  of  dressing  glove  leather, 
but  that  adopted  for  by  far  the  greatest  portion  is  the 
process  of  tanning  known  as  "  tawing  "  in  which  the 
skins  are  treated  with  a  mixture  of  alum,  salt,  egg-yolk, 
flour,  and  sometimes  a  vegetable  oil.  Bark-tanning  is 
adopted  for  tanning  particularly  strong  glove  leathers, 
such  as  are  used  for  driving  gloves,  etc.,  whilst  there  are 
distinct  tannages  for  "  chamois,"  washable  and  Mocha 
leathers,  and  "  suedes  "  also  are  often  subjected  to  a 
special  process. 

The  white  tannage — the  tawing  process — is  generally 
used  for  kid,  lamb,  and  light  sheep  skins.  Leather  for 
white  dress  gloves  and  for  the  "  nappa  "  and  coloured 
gloves,  which  have,  of  course,  to  be  subsequently  dyed, 
are  so  produced.  Every  dressing  yard  follows  its  own 
recipe  for  the  tawing  mixture,  but  a  comparison  of  the 


SKIN   DRESSING   AND   TREATMENT  39 

several  mixtures  would  probably  not  reveal  a  great 
measure  of  variation.  An  average  tawing  mixture 
contains  5  parts  of  flour,  4  of  alum,  2  of  salt,  and  1  of 
egg-yolk.  A  usual  method  of  mixing  the  tannage  is 
to  dilute  the  yolk  in  warm  water,  the  flour  is  then  added 
and  mixed  into  a  paste,  after  which  the  salt  and  alum 
are  dissolved  in  water  and  stirred  into  the  mixture. 
About  12  Ibs.  of  this  tannage  suffice  to  dress  100  Ibs. 
of  skins.  Alum  is  one  of  the  oldest  of  known  tanning 
agents,  and  this  in  conjunction  with  the  salt  furnishes 
the  real  preserving  or  leather-making  ingredient,  the 
flour  (or  meal  which  is  sometimes  substituted)  and  egg 
yolk  stuff  or  feed  and  lubricate  the  skin,  helping  to  render 
it  soft  and  flexible.  The  dressing  is  applied  by  means 
of  a  machine  called  a  drum-tumbler.  This  is  usually  a 
cube-shaped  receptacle  which  is  slowly  revolved  on  its 
own  axis.  The  inner  side  of  the  drum  is  fitted  with  pegs 
or  staves.  A  certain  quantity  of  water-^about  2  gallons 
to  each  100  Ibs.  of  skins  being  treated — is  poured  into 
the  drum,  the  tawing  mixture  is  added,  and  the  whole 
is  then  mixed  together  by  rotating  the  drum  for  a  minute 
or  two.  The  skins  are  then  placed  in  the  drum,  which  is 
again  set  in  motion  and  allowed  to  rotate  slowly  for  some 
hours.  In  this  manner  the  tawing  mixture  is  thoroughly 
kneaded  into  the  pores  of  the  skin.  From  one  to  three 
hours  suffice  to  "  taw  "  the  lighter  and  thinner  skins,  but 
somewhat  longer  periods  are  usual  for  larger  and  heavier 
pelts.  Frequently,  however,  after  the  drums  are  stopped, 
the  skins  are  allowed  to  remain  standing  in  the  drum  for 
some  hours,  after  which  they  are  withdrawn  and  piled 
in  baskets  during  the  night  to  consolidate  the  effects  of 
the  tannage  upon  the  fibres  of  the  skins. 

After  tawing,  the  skins  are  dried  or  "  stoved  "  in  large 
specially  constructed  chambers  heated  by  means  of 
steam  pipes.  Sometimes  revolving  fans  are  installed  in 

4— (1463J) 


By  permission  of  Messrs.  Dent,    Allcroft    &•  Co.,  Ltd. 

STAKING    THE    SKINS 
The  old  hand  method  is  still  used  for  the  lighter  and  thinner  skins. 


SKIN    DRESSING   AND   TREATMENT  41 

the  drying-rooms  to  keep  the  skins  in  motion  in  order  to 
secure  even  drying. 

The  skins  are  now  in  what  is  termed  the  "  crust  " 
stage,  and  as  much  unlike  the  beautifully  smooth  and 
flexible  glove  leather  as  it  is  possible  to  imagine.  In 
appearance  they  resemble  a  piece  of  wash  leather  that 
has  been  soaked  and  left  to  dry  in  the  sun.  The  method 
by  which  the  stiff,  unsightly  "  crust  "  skins  are  broken 
out  and  transformed  into  a  soft,  pliable  leather  is  called 
"  staking."  Formerly  this  was  done  entirely  by  hand, 
but  now  most  staking  is  done  by  machine,  though  the 
lighter  and  more  delicate  skins  are  still  dealt  with  by 
hand-stakers. 

For  hand-staking,  the  stake  is  a  short  post  fixed 
rigidly  into  the  floor  and  rising  about  3  ft.  from  the 
ground.  At  the  head  of  the  post  or  stake  is  a  blunt 
knife,  half-circular  in  shape.  The  skins  are  first  softened 
by  damping  in  wet  sawdust,  and  then  drawn  smartly 
(flesh  side  downwards)  over  the  edge  of  the  knife  until 
all  the  harshness  is  broken  out  of  them. 

The  staking  machine,  which  has  so  largely  superseded 
hand-staking,  is  a  wonderfully  simple  contrivance. 
Two  arms,  mounted  with  small  rollers,  are  actuated  by 
shafting  gear  so  as  to  move  in  a  forward  direction,  and 
at  the  same  time  closing  together  much  like  a  pair  of 
jaws.  The  jaws  or  arms  of  the  machine  meet  in  a  grip 
in  a  gap  between  two  tables,  and  while  still  retaining  the 
gripping  position  are  drawn  swiftly  backwards  by  the 
rotary  movement  of  the  actuating  gear.  The  operator 
stretches  the  skin,  flesh  surface  upwards  over  the  gap 
between  the  two  tables,  and  the  jaws  with  their  rollers, 
move  forward  and  close  on  the  skin,  and  are  drawn 
rapidly  backwards  over  its  surface.  These  movements 
are  rapidly  repeated,  the  operator  gradually  moving  the 
skin  between  each  forward  movement  of  the  jaws  until 


SKIN   DRESSING   AND   TREATMENT  43 

the  whole  has  been  broken  out.  The  upper  jaw  or  arm 
of  the  machine  is  fitted  with  a  roughened  roller  which 
impinges  on  the  flesh  surface  of  the  skin,  and  really  does 
the  work  of  the  stake  in  the  hand  operation. 

Staking  is  always  done  on  the  flesh  side  of  the  skin, 
otherwise  the  grain  surface  would  be  scratched  to  pieces, 
rendering  a  glace  finish  impossible. 

This  concludes  the  preliminary  operation  of  leather- 
dressing,  and  the  skins  are  now  ready  for  the  dyeing  and 
finishing  processes  which  are  usually  carried  out  in  the 
glove  factory  itself. 

"  Tawing,"  however,  is  not  the  only  tannage  for  glove 
leather.  There  is  a  bark  tanning  process,  in  which, 
after  puering  and  drenching,  the  skins  are  steeped  in 
tanning  extracts  made  from  oak,  chestnut,  gambier, 
sumach  or  other  barks.  By  this  method  a  strong 
durable  leather  is  produced  coloured  with  the  natural 
tones  of  the  bark  used.  As  a  rule  only  heavy-weight 
skins  are  selected  for  this  process,  the  leather  for  driving 
gloves  and  similar  articles  being  so  produced. 

The  so-called  "  chamois  "  (often  spelled  "  shammy  ") 
and  "  doeskin  "  leathers  are  produced  by  a  special 
tanning  process.  Sheep  and  lamb  skins  are  commonly 
used.  Sheep  skins  are  frequently  split  edgewise,  the 
upper  or  grain  portion  being  termed  a  "  skiver,"  while 
the  lower  half  is  called  a  "  flesher  "  or  "  lining."  Skivers 
are  largely  used  for  the  boot  trade,  but  the  fleshers  or 
linings  furnish  the  skins  for  making  chamois  leathers. 
The  flesh  surface  of  these  fleshers  is  frized  or  friezed  by 
means  of  a  keen- edged  knife,  resembling  a  fleshing 
knife,  much  as  other  skins  are  fleshed  by  the  hand  method 
except  that  the  frizing  knife  bites  rather  deeper  into  the 
surface  of  the  skin.  Lamb  skins  which  are  to  be 
"  shamoyed  "  are  frized  to  remove  the  grain.  After 
frizing  the  skins  are  delimed,  either  by  being  washed  in 


44         GLOVES  AND  THE  GLOVE  TRADE 

weak  lactic  acids  or  by  drenching  with  bran,  wheat  en 
flour,  or  pea  meal  in  the  manner  already  described  for 
tawed  skins.  They  are  then  washed,  and  the  important 
operation  of  kneading  follows.  This  is  a  lengthy  process 
often  carried  out  in  a  "  stocking  machine  "  in  which  the 
wet  skins  are  severely  pummelled  preparatory  to  being 
dressed  with  oil.  The  "  samming  "  process  follows,  the 
skins  being  hung  up  and  allowed  to  dry  partially.  An 
oil  dressing  or  tanning  is  then  applied  to  the  skins,  cod 
oil  being  usually  used  though  other  fish  oils  are  suitable. 
This  oil  dressing  is  applied  in  a  very  drastic  manner, 
and  the  method  adopted  is  totally  different  to  any  other 
system  of  tannage.  The  skins  or  fleshers  are  first 
steeped  in  oil,  the  oil  being  poured  over  the  skins  as 
they  are  placed  in  the  vats.  After  an  hour  or  so,  the 
oiled  skins  are  taken  out  and  pummelled  again  in  the 
stocking  machine,  and  these  alternate  processes  are 
repeated  for  a  number  of  times  until  the  oil  has  per- 
meated through  each  individual  skin.  Subsequently 
i:he  skins  are  stove-dried  and  in  order  to  complete  the 
tannage  the  oil-dressed  skins  are  heaped  together  so 
as  to  generate  spontaneous  heat  which  causes  the  oil 
to  oxidise  and  fixes  the  tannage.  During  this  process, 
they  have  to  be  carefully  watched  and  frequently 
moved  to  avoid  overheating.  When  oxidization  is 
completed,  it  is  found  that  there  is  a  certain  amount  of 
free  oil  in  the  skins  which  is  not  absorbed  into  the  body 
of  the  leather.  This  is  usually  removed  by  pressing 
the  skins  in  a  hydraulic  press  after  they  have  first  been 
immersed  in  hot  water.  Finally  an  alkaloid  wash  is 
applied  and  the  leather  is  ready  for  staking  and  finishing. 
The  skins  are  bleached  either  by  being  spread  in  the  sun 
or  by  chemical  bleachers,  the  former  method  being 
much  more  preferable. 

Yet  another  process  is  used  for  making  the  choice 


SKIN   DRESSING  AND   TREATMENT  45 

white  washable  leather  which  has  captured  popular 
favour  to  a  remarkable  extent  in  recent  years.  The  great 
drawback  of  ordinary  "  tawed  "  skins  is  that  gloves  made 
from  them  cannot  readily  be  washed  or  cleansed  without 
damage.  Latterly,  some  dressers  have  endeavoured  to 
neutralise  this  drawback  by  applying  combination 
tannages  or  by  applying  a  light  chrome  dressing  after 
tawing,  which  is  said  to  render  the  leather  more  imper- 
vious to  water.  This  method,  however,  is  not  very 
generally  adopted,  and  the  real  washable  leather  is 
found  to  give  better  results.  In  making  this  the  skins 
are  soaked,  dehaired,  limed,  puered  and  drenched  in  the 
same  way  as  for  tawed  skins,  but  the  tannage  applied 
is  a  mixture  of  sodium  carbonate  and  formaldehyde. 
This  is  applied  by  the  drum  method,  and  occupies 
rather  less  time  than  "  tawing  "  An  average  solution 
is  composed  of  8  parts  sodium  carbonate  and  3  parts 
formaldehyde.  Subsequently  a  light  dressing  with  a 
weak  solution  of  sulphate  of  ammonia  is  applied,  after 
which  the  skins  are  stuffed  and  lubricated  in  order  to 
feed  and  soften  the  leather.  For  this  purpose  special 
patent  preparations  are  frequently  used,  but  some 
dressers  prefer  their  own  nourishing  mixtures.  An 
emolient  of  egg  yolk  and  neatsfoot  oil  is  very  popular 
for  this  purpose,  while  olive  oil  in  conjunction  with 
soft  or  curd  soap  also  gives  excellent  results. 

Good  Mocha  is  rather  more  difficult  to  produce  than 
any  other  gloving  leather.  After  soaking  and  softening, 
the  skins  are  steeped  for  some  time  in  lime  liquors  pre- 
paratory to  unhairing.  The  drastic  depilitants  (sulphide 
of  soda  and  red  arsenic)  are  not  used,  the  skins  being 
soaked  in  the  lime  pits  until  the  hair  is  sufficiently 
loosened.  The  grain  is  then  removed  by  the  "  frizing  " 
knife,  and  the  skins  are  put  back  into  weak  lime  liquors 
for  two  or  three  days.  Washing  in  warm  water  follows 


46  GLOVES   AND   THE   GLOVE   TRADE 

and  the  skins  are  then  drummed  in  a  5  per  cent,  solution 
of  lactic  acid  in  water  at  about  blood-heat.  After  this, 
they  are  rinsed,  stuffed  and  dressed  with  alum,  salt, 
egg-yolk  and  flour,  and  subsequently  dried  or  staked, 
and  ground  upon  a  fine  emery  wheel.  Another  dressing 
of  yolk  follows,  and  the  skins  are  then  ground  again  upon 
a  still  finer  wheel. 

Processes  for  treating  flesher  sheep  skins  and  other 
skins  to  produce  a  simulated  Mocha  finish  have  been 
patented.  One  method  is  as  follows  :  After  removal 
of  the  outer  grain,  the  skin  is  soaked  in  a  solution  of 
potassium  carbonate,  and  subsequently  the  inner 
grain  is  removed.  The  skins  are  tawed  in  the  usual 
manner,  but  a  small  percentage  of  grape  sugar  is  added  to 
the  mixture  to  increase  the  body.  Rice  starch, 
glycerine  or  tannic  acid  may  also  be  added. 

Imitation  Mochas  are  produced  in  many  ways.  One 
method  is  to  dye  and  coat  the  skin  with  coloured  pow- 
ders. The  skins  are  ground  on  the  flesh  side,  which  is 
afterwards  coated  with  a  mixture  of  linseed  oil,  man- 
ganese borate,  benzine  and  colouring  matter,  and 
finally  sprinkled  with  starch,  talc  or  other  powder 
dyed  the  same  colour  as  the  skin.  This  is  beaten  into 
the  skins,  which  are  finally  dried  in  stoves  and  finished 
in  the  usual  way. 

Yet  another  process  has  been  invented  in  connection 
with  the  production  of  so-called  Mocha  leather.  Instead 
of  "  frizing  "  to  remove  the  grain,  a  solution  of  caustic 
soda  and  potash  is  applied  which  corrodes  the  grain, 
and  the  surface  is  then  ground  off  by  means  of  an 
emery  wheel.  Diluted  vitriol  and  other  acids  are  some- 
times used  first,  to  disturb  the  grains. 

Such  methods  as  these  latter,  however,  are  not 
resorted  to  by  reputable  firms. 

In  glove  leather-dressing  there  is  of  course  ample  scope 


SKIN    DRESSING   AND   TREATMENT  47 

for  varying  the  different  processes.  In  the  course  of 
time  every  establishment  develops  special  lines  of 
practice  which  are  believed  to  yield  improved  results. 
Thus  every  dressing-yard  has  its  own  characteristics, 
and  the  leathers  produced  therein  often  exhibit  a  dis- 
tinctive character,  which  though  apparent  to  the 
expert  could  not  be  easily  detected  by  the  uninitiated. 
In  recent  years  considerable  developments  have  taken 
place  in  the  industry,  mechanical  methods  superseding 
more  cumbersome  hand  operations,  whilst  the  ingredients 
used  for  dressing  have  been  much  improved  and  stan- 
dardised. Further  developments  along  these  lines  are 
anticipated,  whilst  the  possibility  of  the  invention  of 
much  improved  tannages  must  not  be  ruled  out. 


CHAPTER  VI 

DYEING   AND    FINISHING   THE    LEATHER 

GLOVE  leather  as  it  leaves  the  hands  of  the  dressers 
is  either  white  or  tan  colour,  according  to  whether  it 
has  been  subjected  to  the  white  dressing  (the  "  tawing  " 
process)  or  the  bark  tanning.  For  certain  kinds  of 
gloves,  such  as  white  dress  gloves  or  tan  driving  gloves, 
the  leather  in  this  state  can  be  graded  and  polished  and 
handed  straight  on  to  the  cutting-room,  but  the  majority 
of  leathers  have  yet  to  pass  through  several  more 
processes  erejthey  are  ready  for  the  cutters.  As  a  rule, 
all  glove  leather  on  receipt  at  the  factory  is  put  into  store 
and  allowed  to  ripen  for  some  time  after  its  arrival. 
Long  experience  has  taught  that  it  is  best  to  allow 
the  skins  to  mature  slowly  after  dressing.  This  ripening 
consolidates  the  effects  of  dressing  and  enriches  the 
appearance  and  "  feel  "  of  the  leather. 

On  emerging  from  the  store,  the  skins  are  immedi- 
ately dealt  with  by  skilled  sorters.  Skin-sorting  in 
the  glove  trade  is  a  responsible  calling.  -  It  demands 
great  experience  and  considerable  judgment.  As  a 
rule  the  sorters  are  drawn  from  the  ranks  of  the  older 
cutters,  and  include  probably  some  of  the  most  expert 
and  experienced  men  in  the  factory.  They  have  not 
only  to  grade  the  leathers,  but  to /decide  the  class  of 
glove  a  particular  skin  is  best  suited  to  make,  and  they 
often  decide  the  colours  it  can  be  most  profitably  dyed, 
and  the  kind  of  finish  the  skin  will  take  best.  The 
knowledge  a  sorter  must  possess  to  exercise  judgment 
in  such  matters  can  only  be  acquired  in  the  factory 
through  actual  experience  of  the  practical  working  of 
skins.  A  good  sorter  can  discriminate  almost  instinc- 
tively between  good  and  bad  skins,  and  between  those 

48 


By  permission  of  Messrs.  Dent,    Allcroft   &   Co.,  Lid. 

WASHING   THE    SKINS    PREPARATORY    TO    DYEING 


50  GLOVES   AND    THE    GLOVE   TRADE 

suitable  for  different  purposes.  In  sorting  he  will 
select  a  batch  of  skins  of  approximately  the  same  char- 
acter and  grain,  and  these  will  be  bundled  together 
for  the  subsequent  processes  and  sometimes  accompanied 
on  their  journey  through  the  different  departments 
with  a  docket  indicating  the  number  of  skins  in  the 
bundle,  the  class  of  gloves  to  be  made,  the  finish,  and 
even  the  number  of  pairs  of  gloves  the  parcel  of  skins 
is  expected  to  yield. 

After  sorting,  the  leather  is  passed  on  to  the  washing 
room  to  be  prepared  for  dyeing  or  staining.  The  skins 
are  there  washed  in  revolving  drums  of  tepid  or  warm 
water,  by  which  they  are  cleansed  from  any  dust  or 
impurities  which  may  have  accumulated  upon  them 
whilst  in  store.  Washing,  at  the  same  time,  renders  the 
skins  more  soft  and  workable.  One  result  of  this  cleans- 
ing is  that  a  certain  proportion  of  the  tanning  and 
stuffing  ingredients  is  lost,  and  this  necessitates  redress- 
ing or  re-egging  either  before  or  after  dyeing.  Some 
glovers  believe  it  best  to  re-dress  before  dyeing,  but 
-  others  hold  that  if  the  re-dressing  follows  dyeing  the 
colours  are  rendered  more  permanent. 

The__dyeing  process  itself  is  one  of  great  interest. 
^Actually  there  are  two  methods,  one,  the  more  common, 
by  immersion,  which  stains  the  skins  throughout  from 
grain  to  flesh  surface,  and  the  other  brush-dyeing,  by 
which  the  dye  or  stain  is  brushed  on  to  the  grain  or 
wearing  surface  of  the  leather  only.  The  latter  process 
is  the  older,  but  it  is  now  fast  falling  into  disfavour,  so 
far  as  heavy,  hard-wearing  gloves  are  concerned,  though 
it  is  still  used  for  the  lighter  classes  of  ladies'  gloves. } 

Whichever  method  is  adopted,  wood  and  bark  dyes 
furnish  the  bulk  of  the  colours,  though  sometimes  a 
top  dressing  of  aniline  or  coal-tar  dye  is  added  to  obtain 
a  higher  degree  of  brilliance.  The  dyes  used  include  a 


DYEING   AND    FINISHING   THE    LEATHER  51 

wide  selection  of  barks  and  woods,  fustic,  saffron, 
logwood,  gambier,  sappan  wood,  ebony,  gold  tan, 
mangrove,  and  oak  bark,  and  redwood  being  among  the 
most  favoured.  Many  glovers  prepare  their  own  dyes 
from  the  dye-woods  or  barks,  but  the  practice  of 
utilizing  paste  or  dry  extracts  is  increasing.  In  the 
first  instance  the  dye-woods  yield  practically  only 
the  three  primary  colours,  red,  yellow,  and  blue,  but 
by  careful  mixing  and  dilution  almost  any  shade  can 
be  obtained. 

In  dyeing,  the  skins  are  first  washed  in  a  solution  of 
ammoniacal  salts  which  serve  as  a  mordant.  If  the 
brush  method  is  to  be  adopted,  the  salts  are  merely 
brushed  on  the  grain.  In  the/'  drum  "  or  "  dipping  " 
process  the  skins  are  placed  in  revolving  drums  con- 
taining the  dyeing  mixture,  the  drums  being  rotated 
until  the  dye  is  worked  thoroughly  into  the  skins. 

For  brush-dyeing,  a  much  more  tedious  and  difficult 
process,  the  skins  have  to  be  treated  singly.  Each  is 
taken  separately  and  "  slicked  "  or  stretched  out  upon 
a  leaden  slab  or  table,  and  the  dye  is  painted  or  brushed 
on  to  the  required  depth  or  fullness.  The  reasons  why 
"  brush  staining  "  as  it  is  called,  is  falling  into  disuse  in 
this  country  are  that  not  only  does  it  involve  more  work, 
but  it  is  less  satisfactory  in  its  results  than  the  "  dipping  " 
process.  Only  the  surface  of  the  glove  being  coloured, 
the  tendency  is  for  the  dyed  surface  to  wear  off  those 
portions  of  the  glove  which  have  to  bear  the  hardest 
usage,  the  finger  tips  and  palms,  for  instance,  rendering 
the  glove  patchy  and  unsightly. 

"  Strikers  "  are  afterwards  applied  to  fix  the  colours. 
For  this  purpose  a  wide  variety  of  metallic  salts  is 
available  ;  iron,  copper  and  zinc  sulphates,  titanium 
salts,  bichromate  of  potash,  and  nitrate  of  iron  are 
all  used.  One  striker  specially  favoured  is  a  patent 


52          GLOVES  AND  THE  GLOVE  TRADE 

preparation  sold  as  "  Cori chrome."  This  is  composed  of 
titanium  lactate,  and  is  specially  valuable  as  it  can  be 
used  without  any  fear  of  the  leather  being  damaged. 

Before  or  after  dyeing,  the  leather  is  re-egged  and 
re-dressed.  In  many  factories,  a  similar  dressing  is 
applied  as  in  tawing,  i.e.,  a  mixture  of  alum,  salt,  egg- 
yolk  and  flour  ;  other  glove-makers  deem  it  sufficient 
to  apply  a  dressing  of  egg-yolk  and  olive  oil.  This 
re-dressing  is  performed  in  the  manner  described  in  the 
previous  chapter. 

Here  a  word  may  be  offered  in  explanation  of  the  use 
of  egg-dressing  for  preparing  glove  leather.  Only  the 
yolk  of  eggs  is  used,  and  millions  of  egg-yolks  are  annually 
imported  for  the  purpose,  largely  from  China.  The  skins 
themselves  before  the  tannage  is  applied  are  thin  and 
empty,  and  for  this  reason  they  have  to  be  stuffed  or 
nourished.  Just  as  alum  and  salt  furnish  the  preserving 
tanning  ingredients,  the  egg-yolk  and  flour  or  meal  enter 
into  the  pores  of  the  skin  giving  it  body  and  nourishment. 
The  physical  explanation  of  the  virtue  of  the  egg  yolk 
dressing  is  that  the  yolk  is  composed  of  exceedingly 
minute  globules,  and  these  it  seems  are  capable  of  being 
kneaded  right  into  the  pores  and  membranes  of  the  skin. 
There  they  act  as  lubricating  agents  and  impart  to  the 
leather  that  smooth,  soft  "  feel  "  which  is  its  peculiar 
characteristic.  Some  of  the  finer  oils  would  probably 
serve  the  same  purpose  equally  well  but  for  the  fact  that 
they  are  liable  to  stain  the  leather  and  render  it  greasy. 
Egg-yolk,  however,  furnishes  an  ideal  feeder  and  lubri- 
cant without  greasing  or  staining  the  leather,  and 
hitherto  no  effective  substitute  has  been  discovered. 

Mrs.  Henry  Wood,  in  the  novel  we  have  already  men- 
tioned has  left  on  record  a  picturesque  description  of  the 
method  in  which  glove  leather  was  dressed  in  the  early 
part  of  last  century.  "  When  the  skins  came  in  from  the 


DYEING   AND    FINISHING    THE    LEATHER  53 

leather-dressers,"  she  writes,  "  they  were  first  washed 
in  a  tub  of  cold  water.  The  next  day  warm  water, 
mixed  with  yolks  of  eggs,  was  poured  upon  them,  and  a 
couple  of  men,  barelegged  to  the  knee,  got  into  the 
tub  and  danced  upon  them,  skins,  eggs  and  water,  for 
two  hours.  Then  they  were  spread  in  a  field  to  dry, 
till  they  were  as  hard  as  a  lantern  horn  ;  then  they  were 
"  staked,"  as  it  is  called,  a  long  process,  to  smooth  and 
soften  them.  To  the  stainers  next,  to  be  stained  black 
or  coloured  ;  next  to  the  parers,  to  have  loose  flesh  pared 
from  the  inside  and  to  be  smoothed  again  with  pumice 
stone." 

From  this  quotation  it  will  be  seen  that  in  principle 
the  process  has  undergone  little  change,  the  kneading 
now  being  done  in  revolving  drums,  while  drying  in 
stoves,  supplants  the  open-air  method.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  the  alum  and  yolk  tannage  is  of  great  age  and  the 
real  origin  of  the  process  is  not  known.  In  the  Sloane 
MS.,  quoted  by  Planche,  directions  are  given  for  making 
cheveral  (goat)  leather  for  parchment  by  means  of  a 
solution  of  alum  mixed  with  the  yolk  of  eggs. 

When  the  leather  has  been  dyed  and  redressed,  it  is 
again  dried  in  similar  stoves  to  those  used  in  the  dressing 
yards.  In  "  stoving  "  the  skins  have  to  be  most  care- 
fully watched,  for  if  left  too  long  they  dry  into  a  brittle 
state  and  crumble  to  pieces.  As  it  is,  the  skins  emerge 
from  the  stoves  shrivelled  and  "  crusty,"  and  have 
therefore  again  to  undergo  a  course  of  staking.  This  is 
performed  also  in  the  same  manner  as  in  the  dressing 
yards,  all  except  the  lightest  and  thinnest  skins 
being  machine-staked.  If  the  original  staking  after 
tawing  effected  a  marked  change  in  the  character  and 
appearance  of  the  dressed  leather,  the  results  of  staking 
the  dyed  skins  is  even  more  remarkable.  In  the  crust 
stage  the  dyed  skins  are  if  anything  more  unsightly  than 


By  permission  of 


Messrs.  Dent,    AUcroft   &   Co.,  Lid. 


PARING    THE    SKINS    WITH    THE    ROUND    OR 
MOON-SHAPED    KNIFE 


DYEING   AND    FINISHING  THE   LEATHER  55 

when  the  leather  is  in  the  white,  the  dye  appearing  dull, 
and  somewhat  streaky  and  patchy.  After  being  well 
staked,  however,  the  leather  resumes  its  beautifully  soft 
and  pliable  character,  the  colours  become  richer,  more 
lustrous  and  intense,  while  the  beauty  of  the  grain  is 
brought  out  to  a  fuller  extent. 

After  staking  the  leather  is  ready  for  "  paring." 
This  process  has  a  dual  object  :  it  is  necessary  first  as  a 
means  of  removing  all  roughness  from  the  flesh  side  of  the 
leather,  and  secondly  in  order  to  reduce  the  skins  to  a 
uniform  thickness.  The  skins  of  all  "animals  are 
invariably  thicker  at  the  necks  and  on  the  backs  than  at 
the  flanks,  but  before  they  can  be  manufactured  into 
gloves  they  must  be  brought  to  an  even  thickness  all 
over.  Formerly  paring  was  entirely  a  hand  operation, 
performed  by  means  of  the  round  or  moon-shaped 
glover's  knife,  familiar  to  many  readers  as  one  of  the 
symbols  of  the  glover's  art,  and  further  by  reason  of 
Shakespeare's  allusion  in  Ths  Merry -Wives  of  Windsor, 
where  Mrs.  Quickly,  speaking  of  Slender,  asks  : 

Does  he  not  wear  a  great  round  beard, 
Like  a  glover's  paring  knife. 

In  hand-paring,  the  skins  are  slung  over  a  slender 
horizontal  pole  affixed  between  two  uprights,  and  the 
razor-keen  knife  is  swiftly  but  carefully  used  to  pare 
away  the  surplus  part  of  the  flesh  side. 

Another  method  is  sometimes  adopted  for  small,  thin 
kid  and  lamb  skins,  called  "doling."  In  this  process  the 
skins  are  stretched  out  over  a  slab  upon  a  bench,  the 
operator  shaving  off  the  unwanted  portions  by  means 
of  a  broad  keen  knife,  shaped  something  like  a  broad 
bladed  chisel.  Both  this  operation  and  "  paring " 
call  for  extreme  dexterity,  for  the  slightest  slip  on  the 
part  of  the  operator  would  gash  the  skin  and  often  the 
operator's  own  wrist. 

5—  1463j) 


56          GLOVES  AND  THE  GLOVE  TRADE 

Both  these  operations  have  now  been  very  largely 
displaced  by  the  "  wheeling  "  or  "  fluffing  "  method. 
In  this  process  the  flesh  sides  of  the  skins  are  applied  to  a 
swiftly  revolving,  wide,  emery  wheel  and  ground  down  to 
a  level  degree  of  thinness.  Attached  lo  each  wheel  is 
a  cowl  running  down  to  a  shaft  into  which  all  the  dust 
and  scraps  are  drawn  by  suction  as  they  are  frayed  off 
by  the  wheel. 

The  heat  produced  by  friction  in  the  wheeling  process 
tends  to  harden  the  skin,  and  a  slight  staking  is  usually 
necessary  to  restore  the  leather  to  its  former  soft  and 
flexible  condition. 

We  now  arrive  at  the  final  finishing  operations  which 
determine  the  ultimate  character  of  the  leather.  The  two 
most  popular  finishes  are  the  ordinary  glace  and  the 
suede.  Glace  finish,  as  was  pointed  out  in  the  chapter 
dealing  with  the  various  skins  used  for  gloving,  is  the 
name  given  to  the  ordinary  grain  finish.  Leathers 
with  perfect,  clear,  bright  grain  are  selected  for  this 
finish,  which  is  obtained  by  polishing  the  surface  of  the 
skin  with  a  lamb's-wool  pad,  glass  slicker  or  revolving 
felt  wheel.  Perfect  kid,  lamb  and  certain  sheep  and  goat 
leathers  are  finished  in  this  manner. 

The  familiar  "  suede  "  leather  is  not  a  distinct  leather, 
but  is  the  name  of  a  particular  finish.  Skins  with 
imperfect  grain  are  usually  selected  for  this  finish  which 
is  applied  to  the  flesh  or  "  flower  "  side  of  the  skin. 
They  are  tanned  in  the  usual  way,  and  sueded  by  rub- 
bing up  the  flesh  side  on  a  dry  emery  wheel.  In  America 
the  skins  are  tanned  with  formaldehyde  and  the 
"  sueding  "  is  accomplished  by  rubbing  up  the  flesh 
surface  of  the  skin  into  nap  by  means  of  a  wet  emery 
or  carborundum  wheel,  similar  in  design  to  the  wheels 
used  for  "  fluffing."  As  with  sueded  leathers  the  grain 
or  outer  side  of  the  skin  becomes  the  inner  side  of  the 


By  permission  o  Messrs.   Dent,    Allcroft    &   Co  ,   Ltd. 

THE    PARING    WHEEL 


58          GLOVES  AND  THE  GLOVE  TRADE 

glove,  it  is  usual  to  remove  the  grain  for  the  greater 
ease  and  comfort  of  the  wearer.  Cheap  suede  leathers 
are  inferior  to  glace  both  in  appearance  and  in  strength 
and  durability. 

"  Mocha  "  glove  leather  is  finished  in  a  similar  manner 
to  suede  leather  (with  which  it  is  often  confused)  with 
the  important  difference  that  the  wearing  surface  is 
upon  the  grain  side.  The  grain  is  first  "  freized  "  or 
"  frized  "  off,  this  operation  being  performed  by  means 
of  a  knife  similar  to  the  knife  used  in  beaming.  As  a 
rule  skins  with  shallow  grain,  such  as  those  of  Mocha  or 
Arabian  sheep,  the  calf  reindeer  and  the  gazelle  are 
selected  for  this  finish.  "  Mocha  "  finished  gloves  are 
notable  for  their  great  strength  and  the  beautiful  velvety 
character  of  their  finish.  High  grade  suede  gloves  are 
sometimes  sold  as  "  Mocha,"  bat  if  the  two  are  com- 
pared closely,  the  superiority  of  the  "  Mocha  "  is  very 
evident.  The  Mocha  is  usually  much  heavier,  and 
usually  much  the  stronger  of  the  two.  In  the  Mocha 
finish  although  the  grain  is  removed  to  take  the  finish, 
much  of  the  strength  of  the  outer  epidermis  remains  ; 
but  in  sueded  leathers  not  only  is  the  grain  side  of  the 
leather  removed,  but  the  wearing  surface  is  finished  upon 
the  weaker  side  of  the  skin. 

Modern  "  chamois "  or  "  doeskin  "  leathers,  as 
explained  in  the  previous  chapter  are  produced 
by  a  special  tannage.  With  these  again  it  is  usual 
to  remove  the  grain  and  finish  with  the  emery 
wheel. 

"  Nappa "  gloves  are  made  from  tawed  leathers, 
stained  by  the  dipping  process  already  described,  and 
completed  with  a  glace  or  grain  finish. 

Real  Cape  gloves  are  usually  bark- tanned  and  given 
a  glace  finish,  but  many  gloves  sold  as  "  Capes  "  are 
tawed  and  dyed  by  the  dipping  process. 


DYEING   AND    FINISHING   THE    LEATHER  59 

"  Dogskins  "  are  merely  heavy  gloves  made  from 
tawed  sheep  skins. 

Whatever  finish  is  imparted  to  the  leather,  after  all 
the  operations  of  dressing  and  dyeing  are  finally  com- 
pleted, the  skins  are  again  passed  over  to  the  sorters. 
Each  skin  is  closely  examined  for  flaws  and  faults,  and 
finally  graded  for  quality.  The  sorters  also  decide  the 
number  of  gloves  which  can  be  cut  from  each  skin.  Kid, 
lamb,  and  gazelle  skins  are  exceedingly  small.  Kid 
skins  yield  on  the  average  from  a  pair  to  a  pair  and  a 
half  of  gloves.  Some  skins,  however,  are  so  very  small, 
that  not  even  a  complete  pair  of  gloves  can  be  cut  from 
them.  When  this  happens  the  greatest  care  has  to  be 
exercised  in  selecting  and  matching  the  skins  for  the 
single  pair  of  gloves.  Average  lamb  skins  yield  from 
a  pair  to  two  pairs  of  gloves,  and  sheep-skins  upwards 
of  three  pairs.  Reindeer  skins  also  yield  several  pairs  ; 
as  a  rule  it  takes  three  gazelle  skins  to  make  a  pair. 

This  concludes  our  survey  of  the  dressing  and  pre- 
paring^ of  glove  leather.  It  is  essential  to  point  out, 
however,  that  all  the  operations  described  involve  much 
time  and  afford  employment  for  numbers  of  skilled  and 
experienced  workmen.  The  dressing,  dyeing  and 
finishing  of  the  skins  is,  indeed,  something  of  an  art. 
The  workers  have  to  be  selected  with  care  and  trained 
with  patience.  The  technical  skill  necessary  cannot 
readily  be  taught  :  it  has  to  be,  acquired  by  actual 
practical  experience  in  the  dressing- yards  and  factories. 
As  in  the  silk  and  cotton  trades,  generations  of 
association  with  the  industry  have,  so  it  seems,  engendered 
a  certain  hereditary  expertness  among  the  workers  in 
those  localities  where  the  industry  is  established.  Here 
we  light  upon  one  of  the  probable  reasons  why  gloving 
is  such  a  localised  industry  in  every  country  where  it  is 
carried  on. 


CHAPTER  VII 

GLOVE- CUTTING 

GLOVING,  as  we  have  seen,  enjoys  an  established  claim 
to  rank  among  the  oldest  of  handicraft  industries,  and 
although  machinery  now  enters  very  largely  into  all 
operations  which  the  making  of  gloves  involves,  there 
are  yet  some  processes  calling  for  the  exercise  of  mental 
intuition  in  association  with  manipulative  expertness 
rather  than  for  what  one  may  term  mere  mechanical 
dexterity.  Such  is  particularly  true  of  glove-cutting. 
Formerly,  of  course,  leather  gloves  were  entirely  cut 
and  slit  by  hand.  Then  the  cutters  actually  cut 
"  tranks  "  of  leather,  the  shape  of  a  double  hand  (minus 
the  thumb  which  had  to  be  cut  separately)  in  outline, 
tranks  afterwards  being  handed  over  to  the  slitters  who 
slit  the  fingers,  and  the  holes  for  the  thumb  and  the 
wrist  opening.  Nowadays,  the  "  trank  "  is  merely  an 
oblong  piece  of  leather,  bearing  no  resemblance  whatever 
to  a  glove,  and  the  whole  art  and  skill  of  the  cutter  is 
applied  to  pulling  and  stretching  the  skins  in  order  to 
cut  these  "  tranks  "  of  appropriate  dimensions  for 
different  sizes  and  classes  of  gloves.  The  actual  outline 
of  the  glove  is  subsequently  stamped  out  in  a  cutting 
press. 

As  a  rule  the  cutter  receives  a  number  of  similar 
skins,  which  are  frequently  accompanied  by  a  docket 
from  the  sorters  or  the  foreman  of  the  cutting- room 
indicating  the  number,  character  and  sizes  of  the  gloves 
to  be  made  from  them,  the  kind  of  stitch  to  be  employed 
in  their  sewing  and  the  style  of  "  point  "  with  which  they 
are  to  be  adorned.  All  these  factors  have  an  important 
bearing  upon  the  problem  with  which  the  cutter  has  to 

60 


By  permission  of  Messrs.  Dent,    Allcroft    &   Co.,   Ltd. 

A    GLOVE    CUTTER    AT    WORK 


62          GLOVES  AND  THE  GLOVE  TRADE 

deal.  For  instance,  some  stitching  takes  up  more  leather 
in  the  seam  than  others,  and  the  same  with  the  different 
"  points  "  (the  "  points  "  are  the  three  lines  of  decorative 
stitching  or  braiding  on  the  back  of  the  glove)  and 
naturally  this  has  to  be  allowed  for  in  cutting  the  trank. 
Apart  from  these  considerations,  every  skin  presents 
points  of  difference  from  all  other  skins,  and  has  there- 
fore to  be  studied  by  the  cutter  as  a  fresh  problem. 
Animals,  like  human  beings,  are  endowed  with  certain 
hereditary  and  individual  characteristics  which  find 
physical  as  well  as  temperamental  expression.  Just  as 
it  is  rare  to  find  two  human  beings  whose  appearance, 
proportions  and  character  are  alike,  so  also  with  the 
animals  whose  skins  are  utilized  in  the  making  of  gloves. 
The  difference  between  say  a  dozen  kids  or  lambs  may 
appear  insignificant  to  the  unobservant,  but  to  those 
whose  calling  brings  them  into  close  contact  with  the 
animals  wide  variations  in  size,  shape  and  character 
are  evident.  These  variations  are  reflected  in  the  skins 
and  remain  through  all  the  stages  of  dressing  until  as 
leather  they  reach  the  glove- cutter's  hands.  Thus  it  is 
that  all  skins  exhibit  marked  differences  in  grain  and 
texture,  shape,  size  and  weight,  -even  within  their  own 
class.  Incidentally  it  is  worthy  of  mention  that  in  the 
case  of  French  kids,  which  are  often  specially  bred  and 
carefully  feared,  the  disparity  between  the  texture  of 
one  skin  and  another  is  perhaps  less  striking  than  in  the 
case  of  other  animals  which  live  under  more  natural 
conditions.  The  differences  in  grain,  texture  and  weight 
of  the  skins  are  more  the  concern  of  the  sorter  than  of  the 
cutter,  but  the  differentiation  in  size  and  shape  is  of 
considerable  moment  to  the  latter.  Some  skins  are  long 
from  head  to  tail  and  narrow  across  the  shoulders  and 
flanks,  whilst  others  are  short  in  length  but  broader 
across.  Between  these  extremes  there  is  room  for  a 


GLOVE-CUTTING  63 

great  degree  of  variation.  So  no  two  skins  are  identical, 
and  each  presents  a  new  problem  for  the  cutter  to  solve 
in  order  that  it  shall  be  cut  to  the  best  advantage. 

Here  it  may  be  expedient  to  interpolate  a  few  words 
as  to  the  general  structure  of  the  skins  used  in  gloving. 
Actually,  every  skin  is  composed  of  three  layers  or  strata, 

(1)  the  epidermis  or  outer  skin  known  as  the  "  grain," 
from  which  the  hair  or  wool  of  the  animal  springs, 

(2)  the  Hyaline  membrane — a  fine  transparent  membrane 
— which  separates  the  epidermis  from  (3)  the  dermis,  or 
main  body  of  the  skin.     From  the  head  and  over  the 
collar  and  along  the  spine  (the  crupper)  where  it  is  at 
its  thickest,  the  skin  thins  gradually  away  to  the  edges  of 
the  flanks  and  the  feet. 

Intuition,  born  of  experience,  and  skill  in  manipulating 
the  skins  are  the  cutter's  real  equipment.  The  first 
step  is  to  pull  and  stretch  the  skin  to  ascertain  its 
"  spread."  A  cutter  will  spend  some  time  in  this  way 
on  a  single  skin,  pulling  it  lengthways  and  sideways,  and 
so  working  out  every  inch  of  material  to  advantage. 
Then  by  the  aid  of  cardboard  patterns  cut  in  the  shape 
of  the  glove  in  double  outline  the  skin  can  be  measured 
off  and  cut  into  oblong  shaped  "  tranks  "  ready  for  the 
cutting  or  punching  press.  Any  pieces  left  over  from 
the  skins  are  utilised  as  far  as  is  possible  for  the  odd 
parts  pf  the  glove,  the  thumbs,  fourchettes",  gussets, 
etc.  ['  Here  the  work  of  the  skilled  cutter  ceases,  and] the 
"  tranks,"  after  being  examined  are  passed  on  to  the 
punching  rooms,  where  the  actual  cutting  of  the  glove 
shapes  is  done. 

On  examining  a  finished  glove  it  will  be  seen  that  it 
consists  of  several  separate  parts.  The  main  part, 
forming  the  palm  and  back  of  the  glove  and  the  upper 
and  lower  surfaces  of  the  fingers,  is  in  one  piece,  the 
thumb  is  formed  of  a  separate  piece  ;  the  sides  oi  the 


64          GLOVES  AND  THE  GLOVE  TRADE 

fingers,  called  variously,  "  fourchettes,"  "  forgits  "  or 
"  forks,"  are  formed  by  additional  pieces  ;  and  in 
between  the  interstices  of  the  fingers,  at  the  juncture  of 
the  fourchettes,  there  are  sometimes  smaller  pieces 
called  "  piecettes  "  or  "  gussets  "  ;  while  at  the  base  of 
the  thumb  another  small  piece  is  sometimes  inserted 
known  as  a  "  quirk."  Separate  strips  again  are  used  for 
"  welting  "the  wrist  and  for  strengthening  the  sides  of 
the  wrist-opening,  and  often  there  is  a  small  stay  piece, 
designated  a  "  heart  "  or  "  protector  "  placed  under  the 
binding  of  the  palm  at  the  opening.  All  these  are 
stamped  out  from  the  "  tranks  "  of  leather  or  from  odd 
pieces  of  the  skins  left  over  after  the  "  tranks  "  have  been 
cut.  Very  little  of  the  skin  remains  when  all  these 
parts  have  been  provided  for,  and  even  the  remaining 
small  scraps  and  parings  are  not  wasted,  but  are 
collected  and  sold  to  the  makers  of  artificial  manure, 
glue,  etc. 

The  process  of  stamping  out  the  parts  of  the  glove 
from  the  tranks  of  leather  is  exceedingly  simple.  As 
a  rule  six  tranks  are  cut  at  one  time — sufficient  for  three 
pairs  of  gloves.  The  number,  of  course,  varies  according 
to  the  class  of  glove,  and  the  practice  of  particular 
factories.  These  are  placed  back  to  back,  so  that  each 
alternate  piece  is  suitable  for  a  right-hand  and  a  left- 
hand  glove  respectively.  A  die,  or  calibre,  as  it  is  more 
commonly  called — being  really  a  pattern  knife  shaped 
like  a  double  thumbless  hand  with  its  keen  cutting 
edge  facing  upwards — is  locked  in  the  base  of  the 
cutting  machine  or  press  ;  the  "  tranks  "  are  then 
placed  upon  the  "  calibre,"  and  a  heavy  weight  is  forced 
down  upon  them,  and  the  cutting  is  done. 

Cutting  presses  are  actuated  by  different  methods, 
individual  makers  holding  a  preference  for  various 
types.  Some  prefer  the  old  "  goose  neck "  presses 


By  permission  of 


Messrs.  Dent,    Allcroft    &•   Co.,   Ltd, 


STAMPING    OUT    THE    PARTS    OF    THE    GLOVE    IN    A 
CUTTING-PRESS 


66          GLOVES  AND  THE  GLOVE  TRADE 

operated  by  hand,  whilst  others  have  adopted  electrically 
operated  presses.  Many  factory  managers,  however, 
declare  that  these  latter  do  not  give  such  good  results 
as  the  hand  cutting  presses.  Moreover,  it  is  urged  that 
the  damage  they  inflict  upon  the  knife  edges  of  the 
calibres  is  too  serious  to  be  ignored.  Whichever  method 
of  operating  is  preferred,  the  principle  remains  the  same. 

Glove-cutting  calibres  are  not  of  standard  shape, 
and  there  are  consequently  wide  variations  in  the  style 
and  cut  of  gloves  made  by  different  factories.  Apart 
from  differentiation  in -the  calibres  due  to  the  style  of 
glove  to  be  cut,  there  is  also  considerable  difference 
in  the  general  shape  of  the  calibres  adopted  in  individual 
factories.  Some  manufacturers  contend  that  a  better 
fitting  glove  can  be  obtained  by  dispensing  with  the 
gussets  at  the  junction  of  the  base  of  the  fingers  and 
the  "  fourchettes,"  whilst  others  eliminate  the  "  quirks  " 
or  "  gore  "  at  the  base  of  the  thumbs.  In  the  latter 
case  a  small  section  of  the  main  part  of  the  glove  or 
trank  is  cut  to  run  down  the  inner  side  of  the  thumb 
opening.  Thumbs  so  made  are  termed  "  Boulton 
thumbs."  Owing  to  the  endless  variations  in  the  shape 
of  the  human  hand,  it  is  impossible  to  ascribe  perfection 
to  any  single  style  of  cutting  ;  some  hands  are  better 
fitted  by  gloves  cut  with  "  quirks  "  and  "  gussets,"  and 
others  are  equally  well  suited  by  gloves  from  which  either 
"  quirks  "  or  "  gussets,"  or  may  be  both,  have  been 
eliminated.  Finger  lengths  also  vary  a  good  deal,  and 
here  again  different  calibres  are  necessary.  Some 
manufacturers  only  make  a  standard  length  of  finger 
to  each 'size  of  glove,  but  others  turn  out  two  lengths  to 
each  size.  Again,  some  calibres  are  fitted  with  adjustable 
knives  which  permit  the  cutting  of  various  finger  lengths. 

The  steel  punches  for  stamping  out  several  pairs  of 
gloves  at  one  operation  were  first  invented  in  1819  by 


GLOVE-CUTTING  67 

a  French  glove  manufacturer,  named  Vallet  d'Artois. 
It  was,  however,  left  to  a  young  medical  student  of 
Grenoble,  Xavier  Jouvin,  to  develop  and  perfect  the 
invention  of  d'Artois  so  as  to  effect  something  of  a 
revolution  in  the  glove  trade.  Jouvin  in  the  course  of 
his  professional  work  made  a  thorough  study  of  the 
human  hand,  and  ultimately  classified  320  different 
sizes  and  shapes  of  gloves.  At  first  the  inventor  reaped 
little  reward  for  his  labours,  but  in  1839  his  system  was 
awarded  a  bronze  medal  at  the  Industrial  Exhibition 
held  at  Paris,  and  subsequently  was  adopted  by  the  trade. 

All  glove  dimensions  are  calculated  from  the  total 
width  of  leather  used  at  the  widest  part,  i.e.,  at  the 
palm.  Sizes  also  are  based  upon  this  measurement, 
a  size  6  glove  having  6  French  ins.  in  the  double- 
palm  width.  About  9J  French  ins.  are  equal  to  10 
English  ins.  There  is  a  common  error  held  in  relation 
to  glove  sizes.  In  ascertaining  one's  size,  a  rough 
method  is  to  measure  the  width  of  the  closed  hand  at 
the  knuckles,  and  double  the  measurement  ascertained 
to  find  the  glove  fitting.  Some  people,  however,  measure 
round  the  palm  of  the  hand,  and  in  the  result  find  when 
ordering  gloves  based  upon  this  measurement,  that  the 
fitting  is  quite  a  size  too  large.  An  individual  who  really 
takes  a  size  6|  glove,  will  on  measuring  round  the  palm 
find  his  or  her  hand  is  quite  7  ins.  round.  It  may  seem 
paradoxical,  that  the  glove  should  really  measure  less 
than  the  hand,  but  the  fact  is  glove  leather  stretches 
readily,  while  the  wrist  opening  and  the  gussets, 
fourchettes  and  quirks  all  allow  a  great  deal  of  play  to 
the  skin  of  the  palm  and  back  of  the  glove. 

The  average  dimensions  of  the  different  parts  of  the 
glove  appended  are  given  merely  as  an  indication  of 
the  relative  proportions.  They  must  not  be  regarded 
as  the  proportions  generally  adopted,  and  are  quoted 


C 


F 


70  GLOVES   AND   THE    GLOVE   TRADE 

solely  in  order  to  give  a  clue  to  the  average  relative 
dimensions. 

If  we  regard  the  width  as  represented  by  unity,  the 
various  proportions  for  an  ordinary  glove  of  wrist 
length  average  approximately  as  follows— 

Times  Width. 

Length  from  end  of  wrist  to  thumb-hole   .  .  -6 

thumb-hole  to  tip  of  second  finger  -8 

Total  length  of  glove        ...  .         L4 


Length  of  thumb 

,,    forefinger 


second  and  third  fingers,  slightly  over  '5 

little  fingers,  rather  less  than 


Width  of  thumb  piece 


,,  of  finger  pieces,  including  fourchettes, 
average       .......         '32 

In  the  accompanying  diagrams  the  main  parts  of 
gloves  of  the  Boulton  thumb  type  and  the  Round 
thumb  type  are  shown. 

The  main  portions  furnish  the  backs  and  palms  of 
the  glove  and  the  backs  and  fronts  of  the  fingers.  The 
curiously  shaped  slits  to  the  left  of  the  centre  of  the 
main  parts  are  the  holes  for  the  thumb-pieces,  whilst 
the  openings  are  the  slits  for  the  wrist  openings,  at 
either  side  of  which  are  placed  the  buttons  and  button- 
holes or  spring-dome  fasteners.  As  a  rule  the  back 
half  of  the  main  piece  is  slightly  wider  than  that  for  the 
palm,  the  reason  being  that  a  certain  amount  of  leather 
is  taken  up  in  the  "  pointing,"  the  decorative  braid  or 
stitching  to  be  found  on  practically  all  gloves.  On  the 
left  hand  side  of  each  diagram  are  the  corresponding 
thumb-pieces,  the  fourchettes  being  shown  on  the  right 
hand  side. 

To  conclude,  it  may  be  mentioned  that  glove- cutting 
is  one  of  the  oldest  craft  trades,  and  the  system  of 
apprenticeship  is  still  used  for  recruiting  the  ranks  of 


GLOVE-CUTTING  71 

the  cutters.  Formerly  the  period  of  apprenticeship  was 
seven  years,  but  four  years  is  the  usual  term  now.  In 
this  branch  of  the  industry,  as  in  many  others,  father 
and  son  have  followed  the  occupation  for  several  genera- 
tions, and  many  people  claim  that  such  cutters  enjoy  the 
advantage  of  hereditary  skill. 


6— (1463  ) 


CHAPTER  VIII 

SEWING    AND    FINISHING   LEATHER    GLOVES 

AFTER  the  tranks,  fourchettes,  quirks,  thumb  pieces  and 
gussets  have  been  cut,  they  are  carefully  inspected  in 
order  to  ensure  that  all  parts  are  correct  in  every  detail. 
They  are  then  ready  for  sewing. 

Nearly  a  hundred  years  ago,  William  Hull,  the  author 
of  A  History  of  the  Glove  Trade,  in  the  course  of  a 
remonstrance  against  the  removal  of  the  embargo  which, 
prior  to  1826,  prevented  the  entry  of  foreign  gloves  into 
England,  wrote,  "It  is  a  happy  circumstance  for  the 
operative  glovers  that  machinery  cannot  be  brought 
into  operation  against  them."  Since  then,  however, 
great  developments  have  taken  place,  and  machine 
sewing  has  all  but  superseded  hand  sewing  from  the 
industry.  Meanwhile,  in  one  other  respect  the  glove 
industry  still  clings  to  old  traditions.  For  generations 
now  the  sewing  of  gloves  has  been  conducted  largely  as 
a  cottage  industry,  and  although  to-day  it  is  no  longer 
possible  to  claim  that  the  factory  system  has  no  part  in 
the  glove  trade,  a  very  great  proportion  of  the  making-up 
or  sewing  of  gloves  is  still  executed  by  the  operatives  in 
their  own  homes.  This  may  seem  curious  in  an  age 
when  factory  organisation  and  equipment,  permitting 
rapid  and  large  scale  production,  have  reached  a  high 
standard  of  perfection,  but  although  the  factory  system 
in  recent  years  has  made  very  great  strides  in  the  gar- 
ment making  trades  generally,  the  bulk  of  leather  gloves 
are  still  sewn  by 'women  in  their  own  homes  in  the 
country  districts  of  gloving  centres.  All  round  Wor- 
cester and  Yeovil,  in  the  County  of  Somerset,  and  in 

72 


SEWING   AND    FINISHING   LEATHER   GLOVES  73 

Oxfordshire  and  parts  of  Dorsetshire,  Gloucester  and 
Wiltshire,  thousands  of  women  rely  upon  glove-making 
either  wholly  for  their  means  of  subsistence,  or  in  order 
to  augment  the  common  family  purse.  Many  firms,  of 
course,  have  their  own  factories  where  numbers  of 
girls  are  employed  in  the  sewing  operations,  but  it 
frequently  happens  that  the  young  gloveresses  employed 
therein,  when  they  leave  the  factory  to  set  up  house- 
holds of  their  own,  continue  to  work  at  the  trade  as 
out-workers  in  their  own  homes.  In  the  factories, 
power  machines  are  used  and  production  is  usually  more 
rapid,  but  the  home-workers  execute  their  work  with  the 
aid  of  treadle  machines,  which  are  usually  supplied  by 
the  firms  for  whom  the  gloves  are  being  made. 

The  work  of  glove-sewing  is  divided  into  specialised 
branches,  and  as  a  rule  each  individual  worker  has  been 
trained  to  do  a  particular  part  of  the  work.  Thus, 
"  pointing  "  or  the  decoration  of  the  back  of  the  glove, 
stitching  in  the  thumbs,  fourchettes  and  gussets,  closing 
of  the  glove,  making  of  button-holes,  sewing  on  of 
buttons,  welting  and  finishing  are  often  done  by  different 
operatives  and  frequently  on  entirely  different  classes  of 
machines.  Many  of  the  machines  used  are  of  foreign 
manufacture,  but  the  Singer  Sewing  Machine  Manu- 
facturing Company  have  paid  considerable  attention 
to  the  designing  and  manufacture  of  gloving  machines 
and  now  make  a  complete  range  for  all  sewings.  These 
are  meeting  with  increasing  favour  from  British  glove- 
makers. 

The  first  step  in  the  sewing  operations  is  the  process 
known  as  "  pointing."  There  are  some  hundreds  of 
different  styles  of  "  points  "  now  adopted,  and  they 
vary  from  simple  single  lines  of  stitching  to  quite  ela- 
borate embroideries.  In  the  case  of  the  ultra-fashionable 
gloves  for  ladies,  there  is  also  a  tendency  to  substitute 


74 


GLOVES  AND  THE  GLOVE  TRADE 


for  pointing  more  general  and  more    ornate   embroid- 
ered designs  for  the  back  of  the  glove,  after  the  style  of 


THE    BROSSER    POINT 


decorations  to  be  seen  in  examples  of  seventeenth- 
century  glove  work.  Moreover,  every  individual  maker 
endeavours  to  create  special  designs,  particularly  for 


SEWING  AND   FINISHING  LEATHER   GLOVES  75 

the  higher  types  of  gloves,  in  order  to  give  an  individual 
character  to  his  wares. 

One  of  the  most  simple  points  is  what  is  known  as  the 


THE    VICTOR    POINT 


Brosser  or  Brossier.  This  is  a  single  thread  design, 
stitched  by  a  machine  fitted  with  a  single  needle  and 
single  or  double  looper.  Sometimes  several  rows  of 
plain  stitching  are  employed  for  points,  and  such 
work  is  frequently  carried  out  on  a  machine  of  the 


76          GLOVES  AND  THE  GLOVE  TRADE 

multiple  needle  type,  i.e.,  one  which  operates  two,  three 
or   perhaps   four   needles   simultaneously.    Embroidery 


EXAMPLE   OF   RAISED   POINT  WITH  TRIPLE 
ROWS   OF    DOUBLE-NEEDLE    STITCHING 

is  usually  simulated  by  means  of  combination  stitching. 
In  such  cases  if  the  decoration  is  closely  examined  it  will 
be  seen  to  be  composed  of  a  series  of  separate  sewings 
stitched  so  closely  as  to  present  a  composite  design. 


RAISED    POINT    WITH    SINGLE    ROWS    OF    DOUBLE 
STITCHING 


78 


GLOVES  AND  THE  GLOVE  TRADE 


Such  decorations  may  involve  separate  operations, 
each  being  the  work  of  a  distinct  machine.  A  centre 
line  of  roundseam  stitching  flanked  by  two  outside 


THE    PARIS    POINT: 
AN    EXAMPLE    OF    MACHINE    EMBROIDERY 


rows  of  chain-stitching  is  a  simple  example  of  this  class 
of  point.  The  well-known  Paris  pointing  can  be  produced 
in  a  similar  manner.  Some  points  again  are  made  with 
groups  of  ordinary  plain  stitching  the  ends  of  which  are 
rounded,  or  may  be  finished  with  arrow  or  spear  heads. 
Another  class  of  point  which  is  exceedingly  popular 


By  permission  of  Messrs.  Dent,    Allcroft   &  Co.,  Ltd. 

TAMBOURING    THE    BACK    OF    THE    GLOVE 

The  work  is  done  by  hand  in  a  fraire,  holes  being  first  perforated 
by  a  stamp  or  preen 


80  GLOVES    AND    THE    GLOVE   TRADE 

is  that  known  variously  as  the  Ribbed,  Raised  or  Beaded 
Point.  There  are  single  rib,  double  rib  and  treble  rib 
points,  and  these  are  sewn  with  multiple  needle  machines, 
fitted  with  a  drawstitch  mechanism  for  drawing  the 
leather  into  ribs  or  beads. 

Corded  points  are  formed  by  stitching  a  cord  of  silk 
or  other  material  to  the  backs  of  the  gloves.  Prac- 
tically the  only  hand-made  points  now  met  with  are 
what  are  known  as  "  Tambour  "  points,  and  even 
these  are  eliminated  by  most  makers.  This  is  really 
a  crocheted  point.  In  making  it,  the  back  of  the 
glove-trank  has  first  to  be  perforated  to  furnish  a  series 
of  holes,  this  being  done  by  means  of  a  preen  or  stamp. 
The.  trank  is  afterwards  stretched  in  a  tambour 
embroidering  frame  and  the  point  is  crocheted  through 
the  holes.  The  reason  tamboured  points  have  fallen 
into  ill-favour  is  two-fold.  In  the  first  place  the 
necessity  of  perforating  the  trank  is  a  grave  drawback 
owing  to  the  liability  of  the  glove  to  split  along  the  line 
of  the  holes.  Secondly,  such  work  takes  a  considerable 
time,  even  for  expert  workers,  and  is  thus  rather  expen- 
sive, whereas  the  effect  of  a  hand  crocheted  point  can 
be  very  closely  simulated  by  combinations  of  machine 
stitching.  Nevertheless  there  is  still  some  demand  for 
this  class  of  decoration.  Silk  threads  of  varying  tex- 
tures are  used  for  making  the  various  points,  a  great 
variety  of  colours  being  used. 

Pointing,  owing  to  the  work  frequently  involving  the 
use  of  more  than  one  machine,  is  more  often  than  not 
a  'factory  operation. 

The  various  sewing  operations  involved  in  closing  and 
finishing  the  glove  follow.  These  again  are,  for  the  most 
part,  machine  sewings  ;  although  there  is  still  a  strong 
demand  for  hand-sewn  gloves.  Many  people  still  seem 
to  be  of  opinion  that  hand-sewing  is  stronger  than 


SEWING   AND   FINISHING   LEATHER   GLOVES  81 

machine,  yet  it  is  more  than  doubtful  if  this  is  actually 
the  case. 

For  the  general  stitching  employed  in  closing  leather 
gloves,  that  is,  round  the  outer  edge,  round  the  fingers, 
and  round  the  base  of  the  thumb- piece,  one  of  three 
kinds  of  stitching  is  invariably  employed.  These  are 
known  as  "  Rojundseam,"  "  Prixseam  "  or  "  Prickseam  " 
(abbreviated  in  the  trade  to  "  P.  R.  X.  M.")  and 
"^Pique"  (abbreviated  to  "  P.  K."),  or  "  Lapped  Seam." 
Roundseam  sewing  takes  the  place  of  the  oldest  form  of 
hand- sewing.  It  is  called  by  the  French,  "  La 
Surjeteuse,"  literally,  "  over  the  edge,"  and  is  usually 
used  for  the  finest  and  lightest  kid  and  lamb  skin  gloves. 
The  two  edges  of  the  leather  are  brought  together  back 
to  back,  and  the  thread  is  sewn  through  and  over  the 
edge  at  each  stitch,  hence  the  name.  Furs,  by  the  way, 
are  joined  by  much  the  same  method.  In  the  machine 
(of  the  single  needle  and  looper  type)  the  leather  is  fed 
by  a '  ratchet  wheel,  the  needle  pricking  through 
both  thicknesses  of  leather  and  the  looper  doing  the 
over-casting  to  complete  the  stitch. 

The  Prixseam  sewing  is  the  type  favoured  for  the 
heavier  classes  of  gloves,  such  as  driving  gloves  and 
gauntlets,  real  cape,  etc.,  by  reason  of  its  great  strength. 
It  is  not  a  sewing,  however,  which  makes  for  elegance. 
In  this  sewing,  the  pieces  of  leather  are  brought  together 
back  to  back,  both  edges  being  exposed,  and  the  stitch  is 
sewn  through  and  through  parallel  to  the  edges. 

Most  Roundseam  and  Prixseam  machines  sew  with 
the  needle  in  a  horizontal  plane. 

What  hand-sewing  is  still  resorted  to  is  usually  of 
the  Prixseam  variety.  It  is  usually  done  in  a  frame, 
known  as  a  donkey-frame,  the  vice  or  head  of  which 
somewhat  resembles  a  donkey's  head  in  shape.  The 
edges  of  the  glove  are  brought  together  and  fixed  in  the 


82         GLOVES  AND  THE  GLOVE  TRADE 

head  of  the  frame,  the  top  of  which  is  composed  of  a 
serrated  or  toothed  edge  of  metal,  so  that  the  seam  to  be 


By  permission  of  Messrs.  Dent,    Alkroft   &•  Co.,  Ltd. 

HAND-SEWING USING    THE    "  DONKEY    FRAME  " 

sewn  runs  along  the  line  of  the  serrations  or  teeth  of  the 
edge.     The  gloveress  using  the  machine  sews  with  her 


SEWING    AND   FINISHING    LEATHER   GLOVES 


83 


needle  through  both  edges  of  the  exposed  leather, 
using  the  teeth  to  guide  her  stitches  so  that  a  neat  and 
regular  seam  results. 


TYPICAL    ROUNDSEAM    SEWING    MACHINE 

By  far  the  most  common  stitch  adopted  for  the 
majority  of  gloves  for  ordinary  wear  is  the  Pique,  or 
Lapped"  Seam  sewing.  In  this  one  edge  of  the  leather 
is  lapped  over  the  other,  leaving  only  a  single  raw  edge 
exposed.  It  is  an  extremely  neat  sewing  and  is  at  the 


84 


GLOVES  AND  THE  GLOVE  TRADE 


same  time  strong  and  durable.  Pique  sewing  machines 
are  sometimes  fitted  with  a  tapered  vertical  post  to 
facilitate  the  sewing  of  the  finger  ends.  Other  special 


SPECIAL    MACHINE    WITH    TAPERED    POST    FOR 
SEWING    FINGERS    OF    GLOVES 

forms  of  sewing  are  adopted  by  individual  firms,  Dent's 
"  Magpie  "  stitching,  a  combination  of  black  and  white 
sewing,  being  a  case  in  point. 

After  pointing,  the  gloves  are  passed  on  to  the  glove- 
makers   proper;  whose  task  it  is  to  sew  the  various 


SEWING   AND    FINISHING    LEATHER    GLOVES 


85 


parts  together,  close  the  fingers  and  thumb  and  the  out- 
side seam.  This  work,  as  may  be  imagined,  requires 
considerable  dexterity.  The  sewings  involved  are 
short  (the  longest  runs  being  only  of  a  few  inches)  and 
the  operative  has  to  concentrate  her  whole  attention 


PRIXSEAM    MACHINE,    SEWING    IN    HORIZONTAL    PLANE 

upon  the  work  in  hand,  twisting  and  turning  the  glove 
about,  and  continually  stopping  and  restarting  the 
machine  as  each  section  of  sewing  is  completed.  For 
this  reason,  although  many  glove-sewing  machines  are 
capable  of  running  at  relatively  high  speeds,  high-speed 
sewing  as  it  is  understood  in  many  branches  of  garment- 
making  has  no  place  in  glove  manufacture,  where  neat- 
ness and  even  regular  sewings  are  of  considerable 


86 


GLOVES  AND  THE  GLOVE  TRADE 


importance.  Nevertheless,  it  is  interesting  to  watch 
a  skilled  glove-maker  at  work  and  to  notice  with  what 
rapidity  the  sewing  can  be  done  in  spite  of  the  intricacy 
and  detail  involved  in  the  work.  Where  the  sewing  is 


SPECIAL    MACHINE    FOR    THE    PIQUE*    STITCH 

done  in  the  factory  it  is  possible  to  subdivide. the  work 
to  a  greater  extent  than  is  usually  the  case  with  gloves 
sewn  by  home-workers.  Some  operatives  will  be 
sewing  the  fourchettes,  quirks  and  gussets  and  thumbs, 
whilst  others  will  be  closing  the  fingers,  the  thumbs 
and  the  outside  seams.  In  this  way  even  greater 
speed  and  expertness  are  attained  than  by  operatives 
who  perform  a  number  of  different  operations. 

The  next  operation  is  the  welting  and  binding  of  the 


SEWING  AND  FINISHING  LEATHER  GLOVES        87 

wrist,  and  for  this  again  a  variety  of  special  machines 
is  available.  With  some  gloves  the  wrist  edge  is  merely 
turned  and  stitched  down  by  means  of  a  chain  stitch, 
lock  stitch  or  diamond  stitch  machine  to  form  a  welt  or 
binding ,  whilst  in  others  a  separate  strip  of  leather  is 
used  to  make  the  welt  or  binding.  Welting  also  includes 
the  sewing  of  the  reinforcing  pieces  of  material  along 
the  wrist  opening  where  the  buttons  are  sewn. 

Latterly,  the  Singer  Company  have  introduced  a 
special  triple  lock-stitch  machine,  in  which  the  needle 
vibrates  forwards  and  backwards  so  as  to  lay  three  lines 
of  thread  instead  of  one  in  each  stitch.  This  makes  an 
exceedingly  strong  sewing  and  is  occasionally  employed 
in  finishing  some  -of  the  stronger  types  of  gloves.  The 
strength  of  seams  sewn  by  this  method  is  trebled,  and  the 
use  of  it  avoids  the  danger  of  ripping.  This  stitch  can 
also  be  employed  to  form  decorative  points. 

Button-holing  and  the  affixing  of  buttons  follow,  and 
these  again  are  now  almost  universally  accomplished  by 
means  of  special  machines.  '  There  are  several  kinds 
of  button-holing  machines  on  the  market,  but  the 
principle  of  all  is  very  similar.  They  are  fitted  with 
knives  which  cut  the  holes,  before  or  after  stitching. 
Purl  stitching  is  commonly  used  for  finishing  the  button- 
holes. Sometimes  the  holes  are  strengthened  by  over- 
lapping the  edges  of  the  material  forming  the  hole  itself, 
another  method  being  to  reinforce  the  hole  with  small 
pieces  of  leather  sewn  to  the  under-surface.  The  button- 
sewing  machines  are  wonderfully  ingenious.  These  not 
only  sew  the  buttons  but  knot  and  cut  the  threads. 
They  can  be  gauged  to  make  a  specified  number  of 
stitches  for  each  button,  and  the  machine  is  automatic- 
ally set  so  that  the  operative  cannot  vary  that  number 
of  stitches.  The  knives  cut  the  thread  on  the  last 
stitch,  leaving  it  the  proper  length  to  begin  the  stitch 

7— (1463j) 


88         GLOVES  AND  THE  GLOVE  TRADE 

for  the  next  button,  so  that  there  is  absolutely  no 
wastage  of  thread.  Special  clamps  are  sometimes  fitted 
which  can  be  adapted  to  any  required  size  of  button 
within  certain  limits.  Recently  the  Singer  Company 
have  introduced  a  machine  of  the  chain-stitch  type 
which  sews  on  buttons  with  stitching  resembling  hand- 
sewing.  These  work  at  remarkable  speeds,  sewing 
1,000  stitches  a  minute.  In  four-hole  buttons  the 
stitches  are  sewn  across  diagonally,  but  the  machines  can 
be  adjusted  by  merely  pressing  a  lever  to  sew  two-hole 
buttons. 

Domes  or  clasps  made  on  the  press-stud  principle  are 
very  frequently  used  as  fasteners  in  place  of  buttons 
and  button-holes,  although  buttons  are  preferred  by  most 
people  for  the  simple  reason  that  they  can  be  readily 
re-sewn  should  they  become  detached,  whereas  domes  or 
clasps  are  not  so  easily  attached  when  they  pull  through 
the  leather.  The  two  separate  sections  of  the  dome  are 
inserted  into  the  glove  by  machines  of  much  the  same 
type  as  those  used  for  inserting  the  brass  eyelets  for  the 
lace-holes  of  boots  and  shoes.  The  domes  themselves 
are  made  from  a  wide  variety  of  materials,  although  the 
spring  and  post  must  be  of  metal.  Most  domes  are  made 
•entirely  of  metal,  but  others  are  made  partly  of  glass, 
imitation  pearl,  horn,  pyroxlyn,  vegetable  ivory,  bone 
or  celluloid  or  some  other  similar  compound. 

Alternative  means  of  fastening  the  glove  are  adopted 
for  the  sac-wrist  types,  i.e.,  those  gloves  which  are  not 
slit  at  right  angles  to  the  wrist  opening.  Sometimes  a 
strip  of  elastic  is  gathered  into  the  glove  a  short  distance 
from  the  wrist  opening  itself,  whilst  the  strap  or  buckle 
type  of  fastener  is  also  very  popular,  particularly  for 
men's  gloves. 

There  are  many  types  of  lined  gloves  for  winter 
wear,  varying  from  the  rather  expensive  antelope  or 


SEWING   AND    FINISHING   LEATHER   GLOVES  89 

lamb  skin  gloves  made  from  leather  dressed  with  the 
hair  or  wool  still  on,  and  cut  and  finished  so  that  the 
coat  of  the  animal  forms  a  natural  lining  for  the  glove, 
to  the  ordinary  wool  or  fur- lined  glove.  For  wool- 
lined  gloves,  knitted  woollen  hosiery  fabric,  either 
plain  or  fleecy  is  employed,  and  this  is  sewn  to  the  inner 
side  of  the  glove  in  the  course  of  making.  Rabbit  and 
hare  fur  are  frequently  employed  in  a  similar  manner. 

After  the  gloves  have  been  finally  completed  by  the 
sewers,  they  are  handed  over  to  the  finishing  room.  Here 
they  are  dressed  into  shape  on  metal  "  hands  "  which  are 
kept  at  a  uniform  heat  by  steam  or  electricity  and 
finally  ironed  out  and  finished  for  packing.  Paired  and 
banded  into  half-dozen  pairs,  they  are  boxed  ready  for 
despatch  to  the  wholesalers. 

To  those  unacquainted  with  the  ramifications  of  the 
industry  it  may  seem  an  exaggeration  to  claim  that  an 
ordinary  pair  of  leather  gloves  may  have  required 
as  many  as  72  distinct  operations  before  they  leave  the 
manufacturer's  premises  in  the  form  they  are  offered  for 
sale,  yet  such  is  the  case.  Gloving,  indeed,  involves 
throughout  all  its  processes  considerable  technical 
skill  in  association  with  highly  trained  and  experienced 
labour.  In  the  initial  stages,  particularly  in  the  dressing 
and  preparing  of  the  skins,  the  dyeing  and  finishing  of 
the  leather,  and  in  the  cutting  operations,  the  utmost 
skill  and  care  are  essential.  A  slight  miscalculation 
or  error  at  any  of  these  stages  may  easily  result  in 
reducing  valuable  skins  to  a  practically  worthless 
condition. 

Fur  Gloves.  The  development  of  motoring  and 
aviation  has  led  to  a  large  demand  for  fur  gloves.  These 
are  consequently  being  produced  in  increasing  numbers. 
Almost  any  fur  is  suitable,  but  naturally  the  bulk  of 
the  trade  in  fur  gloves  runs  on  the  cheaper  kinds  of 


90  GLOVES   AND   THE   GLOVE   TRADE 

furs — rabbit,  hare,  etc.  These  gloves  are  made  in  a 
great  variety  of  styles,  from  the  bag- shaped  fingerless 
variety  to  those  of  normal  shape,  whilst  occasionally 
gloves  are  made  with  separate  sections  for  the  thumb 
and  first  fingers.  As  a  rule  fur  gloves  have  only  the 
backs  of  fur,  the  palms  and  under  surface  of  the  fingers 
being  of  sheep  or  deer  skin.  Thus  the  cutting  of  the 
glove  is  done  by  rather  different  methods  than  for 
ordinary  gloves  of  leather.  The  fur  for  the  back  and 
leather  for  the  palm  are  cut  with  a  knife  by  means  of 
a  cardboard  shape,  and  the  parts  are  afterwards 
assembled  and  sewn  in  the  usual  manner. 


CHAPTER  IX 

FABRIC   GLOVES  :     ORIGIN   OF   THE   INDUSTRY 

THE  fabric  glove  industry,  though  still  regarded  by  many 
people  as  a  minor  and  subsidiary  branch  of  the  glove 
trade  is  of  considerable  and  growing  importance. 
Although  in  point  of  value  it  still  falls  far  short  of  the 
trade  in  leather  gloves,  the  number  of  fabric  gloves 
manufactured  every  year  possibly  approaches  the  number 
of  leather  gloves.  World  production  already  runs  into 
several  million  dozen  pairs  annually,  and  tends  to 
increase.  In  many  respects  the  fabric  glove  trade  can 
claim  to  be  regarded  as  a  distinct  and  separate  industry 
from  leather  gloving.  Although  many  manufacturers 
of  leather  gloves  both  here  and  in  France  have  taken 
up  the  making  of  the  fabric  article,  the  production  of 
fabric  gloves  is  no  longer  confined  to  the  well-known 
gloving  centres.  Nevertheless,  there  are  many  authorities 
in  the  trade  who  claim  that  the  best  fabric  gloves  are 
made  in  those  centres  where  glove-making  has  long 
been  established.  Gloving,  we  will  repeat,  may  be 
regarded  as  an  industry  where  hereditary  skill — the  skill 
of  operatives  born,  so  to  speak,  into  the  industry — 
confers  decided  advantages  ;  and  there  are  many 
experienced  glove  buyers  who  hold  the  view  that  such 
hereditary  skill  is  of  as  great  advantage  in  the  sewing  and 
finishing  of  fabric  gloves  as  of  leather.  Be  that  as  it 
may,  the  Germans  succeeded  in  building  up  a  great 
fabric  glove  industry  in  Saxony,  where  previously 
gloving  was  almost,  if  not  entirely  unknown  ;  while 
a  number  of  fabric  glove  factories  have  been  established 
in  several  English  centres  where  previously  glove- 
making  had  not  been  carried  on.  At  the  same  time 

91 


92          GLOVES  AND  THE  GLOVE  TRADE 

it  must  be  conceded  that  the  fabric  industry  owes  much 
to  the  leather  industry,  for  practically  all  the  operations 
of  cutting  and  sewing  in  the  former  are  based  upon  and 
inspired  by  experience  gained  in  the  latter  section  of  the 
trade. 

Looking  to  the  future  it  is  fairly  safe  to  prophecy 
that  the  prospects  before  the  fabric  trade  are  exceed- 
ingly promising.  The  limited  supplies  of  skins,  and  the 
long  and  costly  processes  to  which  they  have  to  be 
subjected  ere  they  can  be  fashioned  into  .gloves,  mean 
that  for  some  years  the  supplies  of  leather  gloves  are 
likely  to  be  somewhat  restricted.  At  the  present 
time,  the  production  of  many  English  factories  is  less 
by  from  33  to  50  per  cent,  as  compared  with  pre-war 
output,  principally  owing  to  the  shortage  of  skins,  but 
partially,  of  course,  as  a  result  of  shorter  hours  in  indus- 
try and  the  depletion  of  the  ranks  of  the  operatives 
caused  by  the  war.  These  factors  are  world-wide  in 
their  incidence,  and  therefore  it  would  seem  safe  to 
suggest  that  leather  gloves  for  some  years  to  come  will 
be  relatively  scarce  and  dear.  On  the  other  hand, 
more  attention  is  being  devoted  to  the  production  of 
fabric  gloves  not  only  in  this  country  but  in  America, 
France,  Japan  and  Canada.  The  necessary  supplies 
of  cotton  and  silk,  it  is  true,  have  been  adversely  affected 
by  war  conditions,  but  the  prospect  of  a  more  speedy 
return  to  normal  conditions  in  this  respect  would  seem 
to  be  more  promising  than  in  the  case  of  skins  for 
leather  gloves.  Again,  thanks  to  the  development  of 
rapid  knitting  machinery,  the  fabric  can  be  produced 
in  very  large  quantities.  Fabric  gloves,  therefore,  are 
much  more  easy  to  produce  and  consequently  much 
cheaper  than  the  leather  article.  Moreover,  every 
year  witnesses  considerable  improvements  in  the  char- 
acter of  glove  fabrics,  "  sueded  "  leather  being  simulated 


FABRIC    GLOVES  !    ORIGIN    OF    THE    INDUSTRY         93 

in  fabric  with  remarkable  skill.  Thus  there  is  a  growing 
tendency  of  the  fabric  glove  to  trench  more  and  more 
upon  what  was,  until  a  few  years  ago,  regarded  as  the 
exclusive  field  for  leather  gloves.  This  tendency  is 
specially  noticeable  in  the  growing  production  of  fabric 
gloves  for  men's  wear.  There  may  be  a  limit  to  the 
possibilities  of  development  in  these  respects,  but  it 
has  certainly  not  yet  been  reached. 

Like  many  another  industry  that  ultimately  passed 
into  other  hands  the  fabric  glove  industry  originated 
in  the  United  Kingdom.  Not  only  were  the  yarns 
used  spun  in  English  mills,  but  the  machines  upon  which 
the  fabric  was  knitted  were  invented  in  this  country. 
The  origin  of  modern  fabric  gloving  dates  from  the  middle 
of  the  nineteenth  century,  when  the  first  warp  knitting 
machines  for  glove  fabric  were  invented  and  perfected 
at  Melbourne,  in  South  Derbyshire.  Up  to  that  time 
textile  gloves  were  either  made  from  woven  fabrics, 
linen  and  silk  largely,  or  were  of  the  fashion-knitted 
seamless  type.  The  majority  of  the  latter  were  hand 
knitted  wool  gloves,  the  fingers  and  thumbs  of  which  were 
shaped  in  the  process  of  knitting.  Such  are  still  made 
in  fairly  large  quantities,  although  machine  knitting 
has  largely  displaced  hand  knitting,  but  wool  yarns  are 
usually  used.  Attempts  have  been  made  to  produce 
fashion-knit  cotton  gloves,  but  these  have  failed  to 
prove  altogether  satisfactory. 

Following  the  invention  and  development  of  warp 
knitting  machines,  considerable  development  was  made 
in  this  country  in  the  making  of  gloves  from  knitted 
cotton  fabrics  ;  but  some  ten  years  later,  in  1860,  to  be 
precise,  the  duty  on  imported  gloves  was  repealed, 
with  serious  consequences  to  English  gloving  generally 
and  to  the  making  of  fabric  gloves  in  particular.  Then  it 
was  that  the  German  textile  industry  established  in 


94          GLOVES  AND  THE  GLOVE  TRADE 

Saxony,  with  Chemnitz  as  its  centre,  found  an  oppor- 
tunity to  lay  the  foundations  of  a  fabric  glove-making 
industry  which  was  eventually  to  become  a  great, 
world-wide  monopoly.  The  steps  by  which  this  was 
achieved  furnish  an  instructive  object  lesson  in  the 
tactics  adopted  by  the  Teuton  in  his  commercial 
development.  The  initial  advantage  of  the  German 
manufacturer  rested  solely  in  the  abundance  of  cheap 
labour  at  his  command.  German  operatives,  in  those 
days,  were  content  to  work  much  longer  hours  than  the 
English,  and  for  wages  which  would  have  been  regarded 
as  a  beggarly  pittance  by  British  operatives.  Moreover, 
child  labour  was  very  largely  employed.  Beginning 
by  purchasing  glove  fabric  made  in  England,  which 
they  shipped  to  Saxony,  there  to  be  made  up  into  gloves, 
the  Germans  deliberately  set  out  to  capture  the  industry 
for  themselves.  For  many  years  they  made  little 
headway  except  in  the  production  of  exceedingly 
cheap  gloves  of  inferior  workmanship  and  finish.  But 
as  time  passed  the  German  industry  accumulated  an 
experience  of  its  own,  and  by  the  end  of  the  nineteenth 
century  competition  had  grown  so  keen  that  English 
manufacturers  were  being  undersold  both  in  their  own 
home  market  and  in  the  export  trade.  As  in  the  case 
of  other  industries  the  Germans  schemed  to  capture, 
this  proved  but  a  beginning,  and  a  time  came  when  the 
Germans  were  no  longer  buying  English  fabric,  but 
were  buying  English-made  knitting  machines  whereon 
they  produced  German-made  fabrics.  Moreover,  by 
specialisation  and  organisation  considerable  improve- 
ments and  developments  were  made  in  the  character 
of  the  fabric  itself.  The  production  of  glove  fabric 
was  studied  as  a  science.  The  knitting  machines  were 
speeded  up  considerably,  and  production  was  inten- 
sified by  concentrating  upon  the  manufacture  of  special 


FABRIC    GLOVES  I     ORIGIN    OF   THE   INDUSTRY         95 

types  of  fabric.  Although  the  first  German  machines 
were  little  more  than  bare-faced  copies  of  British 
machines,  the  Germans  must  be  given  credit  for  effecting 
considerable  improvements.  They  also  made  marked 
progress  in  the  finishing  of  the  fabric,  and  in  the  inven- 
tion of  the  well-known  duplex  fabrics  and  imitation 
suede  and  chamois  finish  effects.  These  developments 
accelerated  the  progress  of  the  German  industry  at  the 
expense  of  our  own  and  those  of  other  countries.  More- 
over, enjoying  the  support  of  a  Government  at  all  times 
solicitous  for  promoting  the  interests  of  German  trade, 
the  German  industry  was  enabled  to  market  its  produc- 
tions overseas  on  severely  competitive  lines.  As  is 
now  well-known,  every  German  industry  before  the  war 
was  securely  protected  by  tariffs  and  highly  organised. 
Prices  were  frequently  regulated  by  a  central  body, 
and  it  was  often  customary  to  fix  two  prices,  one  for 
articles  sold  for  home  consumption  showing  a  high  rate 
of  profit  (protected  from  foreign  competition  by  the 
tariff  duties)  and  the  other,  a  considerably  lower  price, 
for  export  goods.  The  large  profits  made  in  the  home 
trade  compensated  for  the  narrower  working  profit 
margin  on  export  business.  This  practice  is  known  to 
have  been  adopted  by  the  German  glove  industry. 
Indeed,  the  fabric  glove  makers  of  Saxony  are  said  to 
have  sold  gloves  for  export  at  from  25  to  30  per  cent, 
under  the  prices  at  which  the  same  goods  were  offered 
for  sale  in  Germany. 

By  such  methods,  English  fabric  makers  and  glovers 
were  driven  almost  entirely  out  of  the  business  ;  though 
it  is  said,  strangely  enough,  that  even  up  till  1914, 
English  knitting  machine  makers  were  still  exporting 
to  Germany  machines  for  the  making  of  fine  glove 
fabrics. 

Such  in  brief  outline  is  the  story  of  the  origin  and 


96          GLOVES  AND  THE  GLOVE  TRADE 

development  of  the  German  fabric  glove  monopoly. 
The  extent  of  that  monopoly  will  be  appreciated  when 
it  is  stated  that  in  1913  out  of  every  10  pairs  of  fabric 
gloves  sold  in  this  country  9  pairs  were  of  German 
origin. 

The  effects  of  the  German  monopoly  were  seen  in  the 
autumn  of  1914,  when,  as  the  result  of  the  outbreak 
of  hostilities,  practically  no  supplies  of  fabric  gloves 
were  forthcoming,  and  it  became  necessary  to  take  steps 
to  re-establish  the  industry  in  the  United  Kingdom. 
The  initial  difficulties  were  appalling  ;  for  the  making 
of  glove  fabric  and  fabric  gloves  were  to  all  intents 
and  purposes  lost  arts  in  Britain.  It  is  true  that  even 
in  1913  a  few  British  firms  were  still  producing  fabric 
gloves,  but  the  total  output  of  their  combined  factories 
was  comparatively  small,  and  much  of  the  fabric  used  was 
imported  from  Germany.  The  truth  is,  for  20  years 
prior  to  the  outbreak  of  war  in  1914,  Saxony  had  been 
the  chief  centre  of  the  trade,  and  all  the  progress  and 
invention  that  had  taken  place  during  that  period 
represented  German  progress  and  German  invention. 
Many  special  methods  and  processes  both  in  connection 
with  the  knitting  of  the  fabric  and  with  its  finishing  and 
dyeing  were  German  secrets. 

When  the  German  supplies  were  cut  off  by  the  war, 
it  was  realised  that  an  opportunity  for  reviving  all 
branches  of  the  industry  in  this  country  had  arisen. 
The  big  English  wholesale  firms  and  glove  manufacturers, 
in  co-operation  with  some  of  the  leading  builders  of 
knitting  machinery  and  makers  of  the  finer  hosiery 
fabrics  concentrated  their  attention  upon  the  problem. 
Some  of  the  commoner  fabrics  were  comparatively 
easy  to  manufacture,  but  special  fabrics  of  the  "  duplex  " 
typs  and  the  popular  "  suede  "  finished  fabrics  were 
another  matter.  The  machines  for  making  and  finishing 


FABRIC    GLOVES  !     ORIGIN    OF   THE    INDUSTRY         97 

these  were  far  from  simple  in  construction  and  for 
a  long  time  little  progress  was  made  in  producing  high 
grade  glove  fabric.  Necessity,  however,  is  one  of  the 
finest  stimulants  for  inventive  genius,  and  after  much 
experiment  considerable  progress  has  been  made  during 
the  last  three  or  four  years.  Machines  are  now  available 
for  turning  out  large  quantities  of  high  grade  fabric,  the 
equal  of  anything  that  ever  emanated  from  Saxony, 
and  in  some  respects  German  productions  have  even  been 
surpassed.  The  machinery  installed  in  this  country 
at  the  present  time  is  sufficient  to  produce  between 
5  and  6  million  yards  of  fabric  annually,  which  repre- 
sents only  about  500,000  to  1,000,000  yards  short  of 
our  normal  annual  consumption  of  gloves. 


CHAPTER  X 

THE    MAKING   OF   FABRIC    GLOVES 

FABRIC  gloves,  as  the  name  implies,  are  made  of  a  cloth 
or  fabric  ;  and  just  as  leather  gloving  is  to  be  regarded 
as  a  branch  of  the  leather  trade,  so  the  manufacture  of 
fabric  gloves  must  be  grouped  as  a  section  of  the  textile 
industry.  Glove  fabric  is  sometimes  spoken  of  as  if 
it  were  a  woven  cloth.  It  should  be  pointed  out,  how- 
ever, that  the  fabrics  principally  used  are  fine  gauge  or 
closely  knitted  cotton  cloths  of  varying  degrees  of 
fineness,  those  most  extensively  adopted  being  known 
as  Atlas  cloths,  Milanese,  Milanese  Lisle,  Sueded  and 
Duplex  cloths,  whilst  silk,  taffeta  and  lace  are  also 
used.  |  Fabric  gloves  should  not,  however,  be  confused 
with  the  knitted  gloves  of  the  seamless  type,  which  are 
made  as  a  rule  from  heavier  yarns,  usually  wool^  and  by 
different  processes.  The  latter  gloves  are  knitted  on 
special  machines  which  fashion  or  shape  the  glove  in 
the  course  of  knitting.  With  fabric  gloves,  the  fabric 
is  knitted  and  finished  in  the  piece,  the  gloves  afterwards 
being  cut  from  "  tranks  "  of  fabric  and  sewn  much  as 
leather  gloves  are  cut  and  sewn. 

By  far  the  greatest  proportion  of  glove  fabrics  are 
made  from  the  finest  grades  of  Sea  Island  and  Egyptian 
cottons.  The  raw  cotton  is  first  spun  into  particularly 
fine  yarns,  the  bulk  of  the  spinning  being  carried  on  in 
the  Manchester  district.  It  is  worthy  of  note  in  passing 
that  even  when  the  fabric  glove  trade  was  little  more  than 
a  German  monopoly,  Lancashire  supplied  practically 
all  the  spun  yarns  used  for  making  glove  fabrics,  large 
quantities  being  annually  exported  to  Saxony  for  the 

98 


THE   MAKING   OF   FABRIC   GLOVES  99 

purpose.  Nowadays,  Lancashire  supplies  many  million 
pounds  of  yarn  to  the  mills  in  the  Nottingham,  Ilkeston, 
Melbourne  and  Leicester  districts,  where  the  bulk  of 
English  glove  fabric  is  produced. 

'  The  most  suitable  fabrics  for  glove-making  are  what 
are  known  in  textile  phraseology  as  "  warp  knitted  "  ; 
that  is,  cloths  knit  from  warp  yarns  only,  and  not  from 
weft  yarns.  Some  of  the  finer  gauges  of  interlock 
knitted  fabrics  are  also  used  for  gloves,  but  to  a  far  less 
extent. 

In  order  to  convey  an  idea  of  the  distinctive  character 
of  the  fabric  it  is  expedient  to  explain  briefly  the  differ- 
ence between  the  various  kinds  of  textile  piece  goods. 

Broadly  speaking,  textile  fabrics  may  be  manu- 
factured  on  four  distinct  principles,  i.e.,  weaving,  knitting, 
felting,  or  twisting.  Felt  fabrics,  formed  by  compressing 
the  actual  raw  material  (usually  wool  or  fur)  under  the 
application  of  heat  and  moisture,  and  twisted  fabrics, 
such  as  laces,  embroideries,  braids,  etc.,  formed  by 
twisting  warp  threads  or  yarns,  may  be  ignored  :  in 
point  of  volume  they  represent  but  a  small  fraction  of 
the  textile  trade.  Woven  fabrics,  which  form  the  largest 
group  of  textiles,  consist  of  two  distinct  sets  of  yarns — 
warp  yarns,  running  lengthwise  parallel  to  the  selvedge 
of  the  piece  of  material,  and  weft  yarns  which  are 
woven  at  right  angles  over  and  under  the  warp  yarns  in 
the  process  of  weaving.  Such  woollen  cloths  as  serges, 
worsteds  and  cheviots,  and  cotton  cloths  such  as  calicoes, 
zephyrs,  etc.,  are  typical  examples  of  woven  cloths. 
Knitted  fabrics,  which  form  the  only  other  inportant 
group  of  textiles,  are  produced  by  looping  either  weft 
yarns  or  warp  yarns  into  a  chain  of  loops,  cohesion  into 
a  solid  fabric  being  obtained  by  interlocking  each  row 
or  chain  of  loops  to  the  next  row  or  chain.  Hosiery  and 
underwear  fabrics,  stockings  and  scarves  are  typical 


100         GLOVES  AND  THE  GLOVE  TRADE 

examples  of  knitted  fabrics,  and  glove  fabrics  may  be 
regarded  as  falling  within  the  same  category.  Glove 
fabric,  however,  should  not  be  classed  as  a  hosiery 
fabric.  Although  both  hosiery  and  glove  fabrics  are 
made  on  the  same  principle — that  is,  by  means  of  the 
looped  or  knitted  stitch — the  actual  processes  involved 
and  the  machines  on  which  they  are  knitted  present 
rather  different  features.  Practically  all  hosiery  gar- 
ments and  fabric  are  knitted  from  weft  yarns,  in  which  the 
threads  of  yarn  are  knitted  across  the  width  of  the  gar- 
ment or  fabric,  the  length  of  the  piece  being  gradually 
built  up  by  the  addition  of  successive  rows  of  loops  or 
stitches  as  in  hand  knitting.  In  the  manufacture  of 
warp-knitted  fabrics,  such  as  are  used  for  gloves,  however, 
a  large  number  of  warps  of  yarn  are  simultaneously 
knitted  longitudinally  through  the  machine,  each 
thread  of  yarn  passing  over  two  or  more  needles,  so  that 
the  automatic  interlocking  of  the  loops  Jinks  up  each 
row  of  stitches  with  its  neighbouring  rows  and  thus 
builds  up  the  width  of  the  piece.  By  this  process  a 
fine,  close  and  solid  fabric  is  produced,  which  is  strong 
and  sufficiently  elastic  for  the  purpose  of  gloving. 

The  foregoing  gives  but  a  bare  outline  of  the 
principle  involved  in  warp  knitting  and  the  actual 
making  of  glove  fabric  is  a  highly  technical  business, 
and  involves  a  series  of  extremely  delicate  and  intricate 
operations. 

Before  passing  on  to  describe  the  actual  process  of 
knitting  the  fabric,  a  few  words  need  to  be  said  about 
the  character  of  the  yarns  employed.  Yarn,  it  may  be 
necessary  to  explain,  although  in  appearance  somewhat 
similar,  differs  considerably  from  thread  and  the  two 
should  not  be  confused.  Yarn  is  more  supple  and 
softer  than  thread,  which  in  the  process  of  twisting, 
doubling  and  polishing  takes  on  its  harder  character. 


THE   MAKING   OF   FABRIC   GLOVES  101 

Every  class  of  yarn,  whether  of  wool,  silk,  or  cotton, 
varies  considerably  in  texture  or  fineness,  and  each  class 
embraces  many  important  divisions.  For  instance, 
in  the  case  of  the  cotton  knitting  yarns  with  which  we 
are  now  dealing  there  are  ordinary  fine  yar.ns->,  mcrceris/jd 
yarns,  and  lisle  thread  yarns.  Again  withra.  "thase  broad 
classifications  there  are  widely  varying-;  cJeg^eeG  >od  tfinsr 
ness.  For  the  purpose  of  identification*  all r<  ya'rns 'are 
numbered  and  designated  by  a  count.  Thus  we  have 
20's,  30's,  etc.,  up  to  200's  and  300's.  These  counts 
are  calculated  by  finding  the  relation  of  the  weight  of 
the  yarn  to  its  length.  A  simple  rule  for  ascertaining 
the  count  of  a  cotton  yarn  is  to  find  how  many  yarns 
there  are  to  the  pound  and  divide  by  840.  Thus  if 
the  pound  weight  of  yarn  contains  16,800  yards,  the 
"  count  "  would  be  20  and  the  yarns  would  be  designated 
20 's.  From  this  it  will  be  appreciated  that  the  finer  the 
yarn,  the  higher  the  "  count  "  will  be. 

The  yarns  most  suitable  for  glove  fabric  are  the  ordinary 
fine  cotton  and  Lisle  yarns.  As  we  have  already 
indicated,  Sea  Island  and  Egyptian,  the  two  finest 
descriptions  of  cotton,  are  used  almost  exclusively,  and 
some  idea  of  the  fineness  of  glove  fabric  yarns  will  be 
gathered  from  the  fact  that  the  "  counts  "  vary  from 
70's  in  the  commoner  and  cheaper  descriptions  up  to  as 
high  as  120's  in  finer  fabrics.  Even  these  latter  do  not 
yield  the  finest  fabrics,  which  are  made  from  what  are 
known  as  Lisle  thread  yarns.  Originally  Lisle  thread  was 
a  specially  spun  linen  thread  which  had  its  origin  at 
Lille,  the  great  French  textile  centre.  Now,  however, 
the  name  is  applied  to  any  yarns,  whether  linen  or  cotton, 
produced  by  doubling  two  separate  strands  which  have 
been  previously  spun  in  opposite  directions.  The  range 
of  counts  of  Lisle  threads  used  for  glove  fabric  vary 
from  180  up  to  as  high  as  260.  These  knit  into  a 


102        GLOVES  AND  THE  GLOVE  TRADE 

remarkably  close,  fine  fabric  which  is  used  for  making 
the  very  highest  quality  gloves. 

Yarn  comes  in  from  the  spinners  sometimes  in  the 
form  of  hanks  and  sometimes  wound  on  spools,  cops  or 
cones.  Considerable  attention  is  paid  nowadays  to  the 
selection -of  yarns  for  glove  fabrics,  whilst  in  the  early 
stages-  •  of  •"  winding  "'-'  and  "warping"  the  yarn  the 
utmost  'care  is  'taken,  to  secure  the  elimination  of  imper- 
fections which  would  be  likely  to  give  rise  to  patchy 
or  uneven  places  in  the  finished  fabric.  Thus,  whether 
yarn  has  been  wound  or  not  before  it  reaches  the  fabric 
manufacturer,  it  is  frequently  rewound  on  to  suitable 
spools  or  bobbins  for  the  next  process  of  warping." 
Good  winding  is  regarded  as  essential  to  good  knitting, 
and  especially  so  in  the  case  of  glove  fabrics  which 
include  the  finest  of  all  knitted  fabrics.  There  are 
several  types  of  winding  machines  used,  but  all  follow 
much  the  same  principle,  and  the  operation,  which 
is  highly  technical  in  character,  need  not  be  described 
here. 

The  next  process,  that  of  "  warping,"  is  of  even 
greater  importance.  "  Warping  "  consists  of  winding 
a  large  number  of  threads  of  yarn  side  by  side  on  to  a 
"  warping  mill."  To  effect  this  a  number  of  bobbins  or 
spools  of  cotton  are  placed  upon  a  framework  or  stand, 
called  a  "  creel  "  or  "  jack,"  the  number  of  bobbins 
"  warped  "  at  a  time  varying  according  to  the  gauge  of 
the  machine  for  which  the  warp  is  being  prepared. 
The  "  warping  mill  "  consists  of  a  large  drum  or  reel  and 
round  this  the  yarn  is  wound,  often  being  measured  by 
clock  work  in  the  course  of  winding  and  each  section 
of  threads  being  warped  from  the  same  number  of 
revolutions  of  the  reel.  From  the  reel  the  yarn  passes 
through  a  perforated  warping  plate,  which  fixes  the 
distance  between  the  threads,  and  the  warp  is  then  wound 


THE    MAKING    OF    FABRIC    GLOVES  103 

either  on  brass  bobbins  for  the  Milanese  machine,  or 
on  to  rollers,  sometimes  called  "  beams,"  for  the  Atlas 
machine.  In  warping  the  utmost  attention  has  to  be 
paid  to  the  tension  of  the  yarn,  for  upon  this  factor  the 
closeness  of  the  ultimate  fabric  largely  depends. 

We  pass  now  to  the  knitting  of  the  fabric. 

Warp  knitting,  reduced  to  its  simplest  form,  as  already 
explained,  may  be  described  as  a  series  of  simple  chains 
of  loops  running  longitudinally  the  whole  length  of  the 
fabric,  each  chain  being  attached  to  its  nearest  neigh- 
bours on  either  side  and  so  forming  a  continuous 
fabric.  There  is,  however,  more  than  one  type  of 
machine  now  used  for  knitting  glove  fabric.  The  chief 
are  the  Atlas  and  the  Milanese.  The  Atlas  machine,  or 
loom  as  it  is  sometimes  called,  is  a  verticle  needle  fast 
warp  machine,  and  although  it  is  the  older  of  the  two  it 
has  shewn  itself  capable  of  greater  development  and  is 
now  more  widely  used  owing  to  the  fact  that  it  enables 
a  greater  variety  of  fabrics  to  be  produced  and  can  be 
run  at  very  high  speeds.  The  Milanese  machine, 
however,  produces  rather  finer  fabrics. 

The  Milanese  loom  is  what  is  termed  a  two-bar  machine, 
that  is,  there  are  always  two  rows  or  "  bars  "  of  cotton 
yarn  in  the  machine.  Brass  bobbins  of  cotton  warp  are 
mounted  on  travelling  carriages  and  these  move  auto- 
matically along  their  base  from  the  back  to  the  front 
of  the  machine.  A  thread  from  the  top  "  bar  "  and  a 
corresponding  thread  from  the  bottom  "  bar  "  are  fed 
to  each  needle.  In  working  the  brass  bobbins  carrying 
the  thread  on  the  bottom  bar  move  slowly  transversely 
across  the  machine  from  left  to  right,  while  those  on 
the  top  bar  move  from  right  to  left.  At  each  side  of  the 
machine  there  are  attachments  for  transferring  each 
thread  as  it  reaches  the  extreme  end  of  its  sidewards 
journey  from  the  top  bar  to  the  bottom  bar  and 

8— (1463j) 


104  GLOVES   AND^THE    GLOVE   TRADE 

vice-versa.  Thus,  while  the  threads  are  continuously 
travelling  from  one  end  of  the  machine  to  the  other, 
the  threads  of  the  top  bar  are  constantly  crossing  those 
of  the  lower  bar.  The  needles  (of  the  bearded  type) 
are  mounted  upon  a  bar  running  along  the  width  of  the 
machine,  and  the  yarn  is  knitted  by  the  usual  method, 
i.e.,  by  being  forced  over  and  under  the  beard  of  the 
needle  by  means  of  a  sinker. 

During  the  process  the  needles  are  looping  the  yarn 
into  a  strong  and  elastic  knitted  fabric.  Some  of  these 
machines  are  built  to  knit  great  widths  of  fabric,  and 
many  contain  up  to  5,000  needles,  and  there  being,  as 
explained,  two  threads  to  every  needle,  it  will  be  seen 
that  10,000  threads  of  yarn  may  be  knitted  simultane- 
ously. The  machines  vary  in  gauge  according  to  the 
fineness  of  texture  of  the  fabric  being  produced,  and 
some  Milanese  fabrics  are  so  very  fine  that  there  are  56 
threads  knitted  to  1  in.  width  of  fabric.  The  gauge  is 
calculated  from  the  number  of  needles  to  the  inch. 

The  operations  of  the  Atlas  machine  are  rather  more 
simple.  Just  as  in  the  case  of  the  Milanese  machine, 
there  are  two  bars  or  rows  of  warp  thread  at  work  ;  but 
these  are  wound  on  rollers  or  beams  and  instead  of 
working  from  one  side  of  the  machine  to  the  other, 
the  threads  of  each  bar  travel  only  over  a  limited  number 
of  needles,  the  number  varying  according  to  the  quality 
of  fabric  being  knitted.  The  threads  of  the  bottom  bar 
travel  in  one  direction  and  return  to  their  original 
position,  the  threads  of  the  top  bar  moving  in  the 
opposite  direction,  and  then  return,  the  needles  knitting 
the  fabric  as  the  threads  pass  over  them.  Atlas  cloth 
so  produced  can  always  be  identified  by  the  shaded 
bars  running  across  the  fabric,  an  effect  which  is  due  to 
the  fact  that  the  various  bars  of  thread  travel  in  reverse 
directions. 


THE   MAKING   OF  FABRIC    GLOVES  105 

These  machines  are  also  built  in  great  widths  and  work 
at  high  speed,  and  are  thus  capable  of  producing  huge 
quantities  of  fabric.  The  length  of  the  pieces  and  the 
width  vary  considerably,  the  finer  fabrics  being  usually 
shorter  and  narrower  than  the  heavier  makes. 

Dyeing  and  Finishing  the  Fabric.  After  it  has  been 
knitted  the  fabric  has  to  undergo  various  dyeing  and 
finishing  processes  ere  it  is  ready  for  the  glove  factory. 
It  is  precisely  these  processes  which  have  presented 
the  greatest  difficulties  in  the  task  of  re-establishing 
the  industry  in  this  country.  British  dyers  and  finishers 
had  to  start  in  this  section  absolutely  de  novo,  and  it  has 
only  been  by  the  slow  and  tedious  path  of  practical 
experiment  that  the  necessary  processes  have  been 
evolved.  The  manner  in  which  the  various  difficulties 
have  been  surmounted  is  worthy  of  the  highest  praise 
and  commendation. 

Glove  fabric  is  received  from  the  mills  in  the  "  grey  " 
state  exactly  as  it  comes  off  the  machines.  It  is  first 
graded,  and  then  bleached  by  the  usual  methods. 
Dyeing,  one  of  the  most  important  operations,  follows. 
Here  the  greatest  care  is  lavished.  Fast  colours  are 
essential,  and  as  a  great  variety  of  tones  is  called  for 
(and  these  tend  constantly  to  change),  the  dyers, 
resources  are  taxed  to  the  utmost.  Certain  colours, 
however,  may  be  regarded  as  staple  lines,  such  as 
lemons,  greys,  beavers,  blacks,  browns,  and  blues,  for 
these  there  always  being  a  steady  and  constant  demand. 
Other  shades  vary  according  to  the  prevailing  fashion. 
The  actual  dyeing  is  carried  out  by  running  the  fabrics 
through  the  dyeing  liquids  by  means  of  washing  machines 
of  the  rotary  type,  hand  or  power  driven. 

On  leaving  the  dyeing-house  the  fabric  is  next  treated 
with  chemicals  to  reduce  its  elasticity,  and  then  passed 
on  to  the  drying- rooms.  There  it  is  stretched  out  upon 


106        GLOVES  AND  THE  GLOVE  TRADE 

long  frames,  the  atmosphere  of  the  rooms  being  main- 
tained at  an  even  temperature  of  about  95°  F.  by  means 
of  steam  pipes.  Above  each  drying  frame,  numerous 
large  fans  are  rotated  to  keep  the  air  in  constant 
circulation,  which  facilitates  drying. 

In  recent  years  a  great  demand  has  sprung  up  for 
sueded  fabrics,  i.e.,  cloths  having  the  appearance  and 
feel  of  suede  leather,  and  duplex  fabrics,  or  cloths  of 
double  texture.  Fabrics  of  these  types  were  produced 
with  extraordinary  success  by  the  Germans,  who  jealously 
guarded  the  secret  processes  by  which  these  effects 
were  produced.  "  Sueded  "  and  "  duplex  "  cloths, 
however,  are  now  being  produced  by  several  English 
firms  with  varying  degrees  of  success.  Probably  the 
most  effective  results  have  been  achieved  by  Messrs. 
Thomas  Adams,  Ltd.,  of  Nottingham,  who  have  devoted 
considerable  attention  to  the  dyeing  and  finishing  of 
gloving  fabrics,  and  use  machinery  of  their  own  invention 
and  make.  (  By  the  courtesy  of  this  firm,  the  author 
has  been  permitted  to  inspect  the  actual  machines 
used  for  these  processes,  and  the  methods  of<  working 
them  ;  but  it  would  be  obviously  unfair  at  this  time 
to  disclose  trade  secrets  of  this  nature  which  have  been 
discovered  and  perfected  only  after  painstaking  research 
and  the  expenditure  of  considerable  capital.  All  that 
can  be  said  is  that)  Tremendous  strides  have  been  made 
in  this  branch  of  the  industry,  and  although  by  no 
means  disposed  to  rest  content  with  their  achievements, 
the  British  finishers  need  fear  no  comparison  between 
their  fabrics  and  those  of  their  German  rivals. 

In  sueding  the  fabric,  extraordinarily  ingenious 
machines  have  been  devised  for  raising  the  nap  of  the 
cloth  in  such  a  way  that  when  the  fabric  is  handled 
it  needs  very  close  scrutiny  to  detect  that  it  is  not 
actually  leather.  British  finishers  can  also  claim  that 


THE   MAKING   OF   FABRIC   GLOVES  107 

they  have  gone  a  step  further  than  the  Germans  in  this 
direction,  and  they  are  now  producing  heavy  fabrics 
with  chamois  and  wash-leather  effects  which  approx- 
imated the  actual  articles  with  remarkable  fidelity. 

The  making  of  duplex  fabrics  also  involves  secret 
processes  which  cannot  at  present  be  divulged.  These 
fabrics,  again,  were  invented  by  the  Germans  ;  but 
to-day  satisfactory  .methodsJiave  been  discovered  for 
producing  them  in  4his-  country7  Duplex  cloths  consist 
of  two  separate  fabrics  which  are  stuck  together  by 
ingenious  means.  The  great  advantage  of  these  fabrics 
is  that  they  allow  the  making  of  much  stronger  and 
stouter  gloves  than  ordinary  single  fabrics,  particularly 
where  suede  and  similar  finishes  are  required.  English 
makers,  however,  are  also  carrying  duplexing  a  step 
further  even  than  their  rivals  did,  and  the  process  is 
now  being  employed  to  join  an  ordinary  glove  fabric 
with  fleecy  and  other  similar  fabrics  so  that  when  the 
glove  is  made  the  fleecy  side  is  turned  inside  the  glove 
and  forms  a  warm  lining. 

In  addition  to  the  "  duplex  "  fabrics,  English  inventors 
have  succeeded  in  producing  other  types  of  interlock 
or  double  fabrics,  but  these  do  not  as  yet  compare  with 
the  "duplex." 

During  the  last  few  years  more  attention  has  been 
devoted  to  weft  fabrics,  and  developments  in  this 
direction  are  to  be  looked  for.  (if  suitable  fabrics  could 
be  produced  for  gloving,  weft  knitting  offers  certain 
advantages  owing  to  the  reduced  cost  of  production.) 
Speaking  generally,  however,  warp  fabrics  have  certain 
advantageous  characteristics  which  it  has  so  far  proved 
impossible  to  reproduce  in  weft  knitted  goods.)  Warp 
fabrics,  for  instance,  can  be  knitted  with  a  great  variety 
of  stitches  and  gauges.  They  are  more  rigid  than 
Weft-knitted  cloths  and  yet  retain  sufficient  elasticity  to 


108         GLOVES  AND  THE  GLOVE  TRADE 

yield  the  pliability  essential  for  gloving  material.  They 
are  more  durable,  wear  better,  and  are  not  so  liable  to 
"  run  "  when  cut  as  are  weft  fabrics.  Moreover,  the 
close  knit  of  the  warp  fabric  lends  itself  readily  to 
"  sueding  "  and  other  popular  finishes. 

Cutting  and  Sewing  Fabric  Gloves.  The  making  of 
fabric  gloves  follows  rlosely  the  procedure  adopted  in 
making  leather  gloves.  The  fabrics  are  received  at  the 
factory  in  pieces  varying  from  12  to  40  yards  in  length. 
These  are  first  very  carefully  inspected  for  faulty  knitting 
or  finishing  defects,  any  imperfect  patches  being  rejected 
and  cut  out.  The  fabric  is  then  divided  into  shorter 
lengths  and  ultimately  into  "  tranks,"  as  in  the  case  of 
leather  gloves. 

The  actual  cutting  out  of  the  glove  is  executed  by 
means  of  calibres  and  screw  presses  (of  the  same  type  as 
described  in  Chapter  VlO  but  larger  quantities  of 
fabric  gloves  can  be  cut  out  at  one  operation  than  is 
possible  when  leather  gloves  are  being  cut.  Usually, 
about  a  dozen  pairs  are  cut  at  a  time.  Thumb-pieces 
and  fourchettes,  and  gussets  and  quirks,  when  used, 
are  cut  out  by  separate  machines. 

In  the  sewing  and  stitching  of  fabric  gloves  a  very 
wide  range  of  sewing  machines  is  used,  and  co-incident- 
ally  with  the  revival  of  the  industry  in  Great  Britain  the 
Singer  Company  have  shown  commendable  enterprise 
in  developing  and  improving  suitable  machines  for  the 
various  operations.  As  in  the  case  of  leather  gloves, 
a  great  variety  of  styles  of  points  is  called  for.  Com- 
binations of  roundseam  (La  surjeteuse)  with  chain  or 
other  stitching  furnish  a  very  popular  design,  a  single 
central  row  of  roundseam,  flanked  by  a  single  row  of 
chain-stitch  on  either  side  forming  a  particularly  neat 
point.  A  richly  embroidered  effect  is  produced  by 
employing  a  double  chain-stitch  machine  sewing  several 


THE   MAKING   OF   FABRIC   GLOVES  109 

parallel  rows  of  stitching.  Other  machines  of  the 
multiple  needle  variety  are  also  employed  to  good  effect, 
whilst  special  machines  for  ribbing  or  beading  the  fabric 
are  also  utilised.  Another  popular  point,  known  as  the 
"  Kohler,"  is  produced  by  a  double  needle  machine,  the 
needles  of  which  are  set  tandem  fashion,  i.e.,  one  behind 
the  other,  one  sewing  with  a  fine  thread,  whilst  the  other 
sews  with  a  thicker  thread,  and  the  combination  results 
in  a  singularly  artistic  point. 

In  the  closing  of  the  glove,  the  sewing  of  the  four- 
chettes  to  the  fingers,  and  the  closing  of  the  thumb, 
diamond  stitching  is  more  frequently  preferred.  The 
pique  stitch  is  used  to  a  large  extent  for  the  heavier 
makes  of  fabric  gloves — those  of  "  duplex  "  and  similar 
material.  With  these  gloves  a  Boulton  thumb  is  very 
popular  as  it  gives  greater  freedom  to  the  wearer.  In 
some  cases  pique  stitching  is  partially  employed,  the  upper 
seams  of  the  fingers  only  being  sewn  on  that  principle, 
diamond  stitching  being  used  for  the  remaining  seams. 
This  is  known  as  half-pique.  Thumbs  are  often  inserted 
by  means  of  a  twin  needle  chain-stitch  machine. 

For  "  welting  "  or  "  binding  "  the  edge  of  the  glove, 
sometimes  called  "  wristing,"  a  hem  is  often  formed 
merely  by  turning  the  edge  of  the  material  at  the  wrist 
opening  and  sewing  it  down  with  a  chain-stitch  machine. 
For  the  better  class  of  work,  however,  twin-needle 
embroidery  stitch  machines  are  preferred.  In  other 
gloves  again  a  separate  narrow  strip  of  fabric  is  welted 
round  the  edge  of  the  glove.  Small  strips  of  material 
are  also  usually  sewn  up  the  edge  of  the  wrist  opening 
to  reinforce  the  section  of  the  fabric  which  is  to  carry 
the  buttons  or  fasteners.  Many  machines  for  wristing 
are  fitted  with  a  cylindrical  arm  or  base  which  enables 
the  operative  to  hem  the  wrist  after  the  glove  is 
closed. 


110         GLOVES  AND  THE  GLOVE  TRADE 

Button-holing  and  button-sewing,  both  machine 
operations,  are  very  similar  to  those  described  for  leather 
gloves.  Finally,  the  gloves  are  ironed-out  on  heated 
hand-shaped  instruments,  after  which  they  are  banded 
in  half-dozen  pairs  and  boxed  ready  for  sale. 

Silk  Gloves.  In  recent  years  the  demand  for  silk 
gloves  has  grown  very  insistent,  the  popularity  of  these 
articles  having  shown  very  marked  progress.  Silk 
gloves  are  essentially  luxury  articles,  and  appeal  more  to 
the  fashionable  ladies  of  the  United  States,  London, 
Paris,  and  other  European  capitals.  Comparatively 
small  quantities  are  made  in  the  United  Kingdom  and 
in  France,  but  the  real  centre  for  their  production  is  the 
United  States,  where  they  are  manufactured  with  marked 
success.  The  late  Julius  Kayzer,  who  migrated  to  the 
States  from  Germany  whilst  a  youth,  was  the  pioneer 
of  the  American  silk  glove  trade. 

The  making  of  these  gloves  is  very  similar  to  the  making 
of  cotton  fabric  gloves.  The  silk  is  spun,  and  wound 
on  to  spools,  and  subsequently  warped.  The  warps  are 
fed  to  fine  gauge  knitting  machines  of  the  Milanese  type, 
and  knitted  into  a  fine  doss  elastic  fabric.  Afterwards 
the  fabric  is  carefully  dyed.  Special  machines  are  used 
for  dressing  the  silk  after  dyeing,  by  which  the  extreme 
elasticity  of  the  fabric  is  reduced. 

Finally  the  material  is  cut  into  short  lengths  from 
which  the  parts  of  the  glove  are  stamped  out,  assembled 
and  sewn  in  the  usual  manner. 

Woollen  Gloves.  Woollen  gloves  represent  another 
important  branch  of  the  glove  trade,  and  although  their 
sale  is  more  or  less  confined  to  the  winter  season,  it  is 
a  large  and  growing  business.  Their  manufacture  is 
to  be  regarded  as  a  branch  of  the  hosiery  trade,  and  the 
woollen  gloves  of  Leicester,  Hawick  and  other  English 
centres  enjoy  a  world-wide  reputation.  Practically 


THE  MAKING  OF  FABRIC  GLOVES         111 

all  hosiery  firms  of  any  importance  specialise  in  their 
manufacture.  Originally  they  were  produced  as  hand- 
knitted  articles,  and  naturally  the  output  was  then  on 
somewhat  limited  lines.  However,  with  the  rapid 
improvements  which  have  taken  place  in  the  knitting 
industry  during  the  last  half- century,  the  manufacture 
of  woollen  gloves  has  shown  remarkable  development, 
and  a  wider  range  and  variety  of  articles  are  now  avail- 
able. The  improvement  in  manufacturing  processes, 
leading  to  rapid  and  cheap  production  of  these  goods, 
has  been  of  particular  benefit  to  the  working  classes, 
providing  them  with  serviceable  winter  hand-wear  at 
a  price  well  within  the  reach  of  the  poorest. 

Woollen  gloves,  speaking  broadly,-  are  of  two  types, 
i.e.,  the  seamless  variety,  and  what  is  known  as  the 
wrought  glove.  The  seamless  glove  is  fashioned  to  shape 
in  the  course  of  making.  These  are  usually  produced 
partly  on  a  hosiery  knitting  machine  of  the  circular  type, 
and  partly  on  flat  hand-knitting  machines.  The  wrist 
section  is  frequently  formed  with  a  ribbed  cuff,  while  the 
hand  and  fingers  as  a  rule  are  made  with  a  plain  knitted 
stitch.  The  cuff  and  the  hand  can  be  knitted  on  circular 
machines  or  flat  machines  while  the  thumbs  and  each 
finger  are  knitted  separately  on  flat  hand  machines. 
Special  types  of  machines  have  been  designed  for 
automatically  knitting  the  rib  cuffs  with  a  plain 
hand. 

Wrought  gloves  are  all  knitted  on  straight  bar  machines 
and  can  be  made  with  a  great  variety  of  stitches  and 
patternings.  Each  part  of  the  glove  is  fashioned  to 
.shape  with  a  selvedge,  and  afterwards  the  parts  are 
seamed  by  a  special  sewing  machine  designed  for 
joining  hosiery  and  known  as  a  cup  seam  machine. 

Until  recent  years  the  woollen  glove  has  been  re- 
garded rather  as  an  article  of  utility  than  of  luxury,  but 


112         GLOVES  AND  THE  GLOVE  TRADE 

recently  the  manufacturers  have  devoted  a  great  deal 
of  attention  to  producing  fancy  effects.  Exceedingly 
fine  wools  are  being  used,  and  checks  in  contrasting 
colours  and  other  beautiful  effects  are  now  available 
in  the  long  gauntlet  style  of  glove  so  much  in  demand 
among  ladies. 


CHAPTER  XI 

MARKETING 

WE  have  now  concluded  our  brief  description  of  the 
making  of  the  glove,  and  a  few  words  will  suffice  to 
explain  the  method  of  distribution. 

Many  of  the  big  retail  stores  buy  the  majority  of  their 
gloves  (as  they  do  the  major  portion  of  the  merchandise 
they  handle)  direct  from  the  manufacturers  at  home  or 
abroad.  Most  drapers  a*^  retailers  in  this  country, 
however,  ~only  requiring  smaller  quantities  at  a  time, 
secure  their  supplies  through  the  intermediary  of  a 
wholesale  house.  Some  of  these  wholesale  houses  are 
known  as  general  houses,  carrying  a  great  variety  of 
merchandise  largely  in  common  demand  ("  bread  and 
cheese  lines  "  is  the  vulgar  description  used  in  the  dry 
goods  trade)  ;  others  are  known  as  specialty  houses 
which  have  built  up  a  reputation  for  stocking  the  newest, 
freshest  and  most  fashionable  merchandise  in  certain 
classes  of  goods.  Thus  in  the  wholesale  glove  trade 
there  are  many  houses  which  handle  gloves  among 
a  host  of  other  articles,  and  a  smaller  number  of  firms 
which  make  a  special  feature  of  gloves,  and  it  is  through 
the  latter  that  most  of  the  novelty  styles  are  to  be 
obtained.  In  addition  there  are  several  very  large 
firms  of  glove  manufacturers  having  their  own  wholesale 
warehouses  in  London  and  throughout  the  world, 
through  which  they  dispose  of  their  own  factory  output 
(supplemented  by  the  products  of  smaller  firms)  directly 
to  retail  customers. 

Ordinarily,  gloves  may  be  regarded  as  comparatively 
safe  merchandise  to  handle.  Style  changes  do  occur, 

113 


114         GLOVES  AND  THE  GLOVE  TRADE 

but  these  are  neither  so  violent  nor  so  frequent  as  in 
certain  other  classes  of  apparel  or  dry  goods  merchandise. 
The  demand  is  fairly  constant  and  steady,  and  it  is 
therefore  easier  to  avoid  dead  stock  than  is  the  case  in 
a  trade  handling  ultra-fashionable  goods  like  millinery 
or  costumes.  Nevertheless  the  glove-makers  and  whole- 
salers have  to  watch  the  trend  of  events  with  care  and 
attention.  Changing  fashions,  especially  in  ladies' 
attire,  exert  considerable  influence  in  glove  styles.  A 
vogue  for  short-sleeved  gowns  brings  a  bigger  demand  for 
long-sleeved  gloves  of  the  mousquetaire  type.  Recently 
there  was  quite  a  rage  for  fringed  dresses,  and  immediately 
a  demand  for  gloves  with  long  fringed  gauntlets  arose. 
Men,  while  not  so  susceptible  to  fashion  changes  as  women, "" 
have  also  to  be  watched  with  care.  A  few  winters 
before  the  war  a  sudden  craze  set  in  for  white  woollen 
gloves.  Half  the  men  in  the  country  seemed  to  be  wear- 
ing them,  and  the  glove  trade  had  much  to  do  to  meet 
the  demand.  The  season's  colours,  too,  have  to  be 
anticipated  and  allowed  for.  j 

Unseasonable  weather  is  perhaps  the  worst  enemy  the 
glove  distributor  has  to  face  :  and  the  fact  that  it  can 
never  be  anticipated  intensifies  the  evil.  A  delayed 
spring,  or  a  cold,  wet  summer  will  often  have  serious 
effects  upon  the  sale  of  the  lighter  classes  of  gloves  for 
summer  wear.  So,  too,  a  mild  winter  curtails  the  demand 
for  lined  and  woollen  gloves.  Unseasonable  weather, 
in  fact,  can  easily  throw  all  the  wholesalers'  calculations 
out  of  gear. 

It  will  be  understood,  then,  that  the  glove  trade  has 
its  pitfalls  for  the  unwary,  and  wholesale  merchanting 
calls  for  considerable  skill  and  experience.  The  buyers 
for  the  big  houses  have  to  be  very  watchful  and  alert 
in  order  to  anticipate  possible  changes  in  public  taste, 
especially  in  the  case  of  those  catering  for  the  high  class, 


MARKETING  115 

or  fashion  end,  of  the  trade  ;  and  at  the  same  time  they 
have  to  be  prepared  to  face  risks. 

Competition  in  the  trade  is  keen,  and  for  this  reason 
the  wholesale  houses  are  always  sending  their  buyers 
into  the  manufacturing  centres  in  order  to  keep  in  the 
closest  touch  with  manufacturing  developments.  With 
those  businesses  which  specialise  in  novelty  lines  this 
is  particularly  true,  and  when  a  manufacturer  produces 
something  exceptionally  striking,  one  wholesale  firm  or 
a  large  retail  distributor  will  often  undertake  to  purchase 
the  whole  output  of  that  range. 

With  regard  to  the  retail  trade — the  trade  of  the  drapers, 
hosiers  and  outfitters  who  pass  the  g'oves  on  to  those 
who  will  ultimately  wear  them — little  need  be  said  here. 
Many  of  the  considerations  we  have  indicated  as  bearing 
upon  the  wholesale  trade,  apply  also  to  the  retail. 
Generally  speaking,  however,  the  retailers'  stock  being 
much  smaller,  he  does  not  have  to  take  such  big  risks 
as  the  wholesaler.  Practically  every  draper  or  hosier 
carries  a  stock  of  gloves,  and  in  many  of  the  larger 
stores  of  the  West  End  and  Suburbs  of  London  and  the 
provinces,  separate  specially  equipped  departments 
are  set  apart  for  their  sale.  With  the  retail,  gloves 
are  popular  goods,  being  clean  merchandise — of  a 
character  easy  to  handle. 

How  to  Judge  Gloves.  Gloves  vary  tremendously 
in  quality  as  all  wearers  of  them  will  agree.  It  is  true 
in  their  case,  as  with  all  merchandise,  that  if  a  good, 
sound,  reliable  article  is  desired  one  must  be  prepared 
to  pay  a  fair  price  for  it.  As  practically  everyone 
wears  gloves  nowadays,  the  manufacturers  have  to 
cater  for  a  very  varied  demand,  and  consequently  there 
are  very  many  styles  and  very  many  varying  qualities 
in  each  style.  There  are  a  great  number  of  people  who 
cannot  afford  to  pay  for  good  quality  gloves,  hence 


116  GLOVES  AND   THE    GLOVE   TRADE 

there  is  always  a  big  demand  for  low-priced  articles. 
For  these,  naturally,  the  lower  grades  of  material  are 
used,  whilst  their  workmanship  is  not  of  the  best. 
Nevertheless  one  can  pay  quite  good  prices  for  gloves 
and  yet  buy  without  discrimination. 

Gloves  of  all  kinds  are  divided  into  different  classes 
within  their  own  group,  according  to  quality,  and  the 
various  classes  or  grades  are  known  *as  "  firsts," 
"  seconds,"  etc. 

The  three  main  points  to  observe  in  buying  gloves  are 
(1)  the  quality  of  the  leather  or  fabric,  (2)  the  cut,  and 
(3)  the  sewing  and  finish.  In  the  case  of  leather  gloves, 
particularly,  care  should  be  taken  to  see  that  the  material 
is  free  from  flaws,  blemishes  or  harsh  patches.  The 
colouring  too  should  be  of  a  regular,  even  tone.  The 
cut  should  be  well-balanced  and  shapely,  true  to  size 
and  to  the  shape  of  the  wearer's  hand.  Many  manu- 
facturers make  several  varying  finger  lengths  to  each 
size  of  glove  so  that  those  with  long,  medium  or  short 
fingers  can  be  equally  suited.  Another  point  to  look 
for  is  to  see  that  the  fourchettes,  quirks  and  gussets 
(the  small  pieces  between  the  interstices  of  the  fingers 
and  thumbs)  are  evenly  cut  and  regular.  The  sewing 
should  be  regular,  following  the  line  of  the  edge  sewn, 
with  even  intervals  between  each  stitch,  i 


CHAPTER  XII 

DISTRIBUTION    OF   THE    INDUSTRY 

IT  must  be  clear  to  everyone  that  the  recent  war  has  had 
a  tremendously  disturbing  effect  upon  the  industry  and 
commerce  of  the  world,  yet  few  people  outside  immediate 
business  circles  realise  how  far-reaching  that  disturbance 
has  been.  The  fact  is,  the  whole  system  of  international 
commerce  as  it  existed  prior  to  the  war  has  been  largely 
thrown  out  of  gear  owing  to  the  welter  of  industrial 
and  commercial  confusion  which  is  proving  one  of  the 
worst  consequences  of  the  prolonged  hostilities  in 
Europe.  It  is  not  merely  that  old  and  known  standards 
of  commercial  value  have  largely  disappeared  ;  but, 
what  is  in  some  respects  even  more  disconcerting,  the 
very  centres  of  production  and  avenues  of  distribution 
have  in  many  cases  shifted.  The  trade  of  the  world 
at  the  present  time  is  passing  through  a  period  of 
transition,  and  there  are  possibilities  of  change  without 
parallel  in  the  history  of  commerce.  It  is  therefore 
extremely  difficult  for  any  writer  dealing  with  an  indus- 
try of  international  ramifications  to  give  a  clear,  accurate 
and  reliable  picture  of  the  geographical  distribution  of 
that  industry.  This  is  peculiarly  true  of  the  glove 
trade.  The  industry  has,  it  goes  without  saying,  shared 
in  the  general  dislocation  of  commercial  machinery. 
Regarded  from  an  international  point  of  view,  the  trade 
is  in  a  state  of  flux,  and  no  one  can  forecast  with  any 
certainty  what  the  position  will  be  a  few  years  hence. 

Let  us  look  at  the  international  geographical  distri- 
bution of  the  glove  trade  prior  to  1914,  when  the  chief 
centres  of  the  industry  were  well-known  and  easily 

117 


118         GLOVES  AND  THE  GLOVE  TRADE 

defined.  We  shall  then  be  in  a  position  to  form  some 
idea  of  the  position  to-day.  Taking  leather  gloves  first,  in 
those  days  France  was  the  leading  producing  centre, 
Austria-Hungary  (Bohemia)  and  Germany  competed 
for  second  place,  Belgium  coming  third,  Great  Britain 
fourth,  Italy,  Denmark  and  the  United  States  bringing 
up  the  rear.  It  is  necessary  to  bear  in  mind,  however, 
that  British  enterprise  exerted  considerable  influence 
in  the  foreign  centres  of  production.  Britain  was  not 
only  one  of  the  largest  importing  nations  in  pre-war 
years,  but  several  large  British  glove  houses  owned  and 
controlled  factories  of  their  own  in  the  principal 
manufacturing  centres  on  the  Continent. 

To-day  the  position  may  be  set  out  roughly  as  follows  : 
France  still  holds  her  place  as  the  leading  leather  glove 
manufacturing  country,  the  United  Kingdom  probably 
takes  the  second  position,  the  situation  in  the  remaining 
producing  centres  being  obscure.  But  the  annual 
production  is  very  much  below  pre-war  quantities  in 
aU  branches  of  the  industry. 

It  would  be  absurd,  however,  to  assume  that  the 
present  state  of  affairs  is  one  that  will  continue 
permanently.  So  far  as  one  can  gather,  for  the  time 
being,  the  production  of  leather  gloves  in  Germany  is 
severely  handicapped  by  the  disturbed  political  situa- 
tion prevailing,  by  the  difficulty  in  securing  supplies 
of  raw  materials,  and  by  the  dislocation  of  the  credit 
system.  In  Bohemia,  which  has  been  transferred  to 
the  new  state  of  Czecho- Slovakia  much  the  same  applies. 
Certainly  until  the  political  situation  is  clarified,  neither 
country  can  settle  down  to  normal  work,  and  until  that 
is  possible  it  is  futile  to  attempt  to  anticipate  their 
prospects  of  recovering  the  trade  they  have  lost.  Whether 
our  erstwhile  enemies  can  ever  regain  the  position  they 
held  formerly,  only  time  will  prove.  All  that  can  be 


DISTRIBUTION    OF   THE    INDUSTRY  119 

said  is  that  the  industry  of  neither  country  is  at  a  com- 
plete standstill  ;  on  the  contrary  there  is  ample  evidence 
going  to  show  that  the  German  and  Bohemian  manu- 
facturers are  biding  their  time,  and  merely  await  a 
favourable  opportunity  to  re-enter  the  world's  markets. 

The  Belgians,  of  course,  are  making  big  efforts  to 
reconstruct  their  industry,  which  was  centred  largely 
at  Brussels.  They  are  suffering  from  the  disastrous 
effects  of  the  prolonged  German  occupation.  Here  the 
prospects  of  recovery  are  more  certain  than  in  the  case 
of  either  Germany  or  Austria.  Belgium  enjoys  the  good- 
will of  the  world,  and  the  course  of  a  few  years  should 
again  see  the  glove  industry  of  that  country  thriving  and 
prosperous. 

Meanwhile  the  manufacturers  of  leather  gloves  in 
other  countries,  especially  those  of  Great  Britain  and 
America,  are  making  very  strenuous  efforts  to  extend 
the  field  of  their  activities.  Far  more  success  has 
attended  the  efforts  of  British  glovers  in  this  respect 
than  is  generally  credited,  although  the  measure  of 
success  attained  would  be  considerably  greater  were 
the  general  conditions  prevailing  in  the  trade  more 
favourable.  Unfortunately  the  situation  is  complicated 
by  a  number  of  adverse  factors.  As  we  have  already 
explained  in  dealing  with  the  glove  leather  situation, 
our  own  glovers,  in  common  with  those  of  other  nations, 
are  seriously  hampered  by  the  world  shortage  of  skins  : 
but  that  is  not  me  only  hindrance  to  progress.  Other 
obstacles  are  presented  by  the  delay  in  proceeding  with 
factory  extensions  and  the  installation  of  new  machinery 
and  factory  plant  owing  to  financial  conditions  and 
difficulties  of  other  industries,  while  the  general  move- 
ment towards  shorter  hours  and  higher  wages  in  industry 
has  naturally  a  retarding  effect  on  production. 

With  regard  to  the  fabric  branch  of  the  industry,  we 

9_(1463j) 


120         GLOVES  AND  THE  GLOVE  TRADE 

have  already  noted  the  effects  of  the  war  in  our  chapter 
dealing  with  the  history  of  the  manufacture  of  fabric 
gloves.  Practically  speaking,  the  Germans  had  prior 
to  the  war  a  monopoly  of  the  fabric  glove  trade  :  the 
reasons  for  this  have  already  been  explained  at  length. 
Of  the  2,531,798  dozen  pairs  of  fabric  gloves  imported 
into  this  country  in  1913,  2,511,009  dozen  pairs  were  of 
German  origin,  and  the  bulk  of  the  remainder  were 
silk  gloves  of  American  make.  In  that  year,  and  for 
years  previously,  in  point  of  quantity  the  British 
production  of  fabric  gloves  was  negligible.  These 
facts  reveal  the  extent  of  the  former  German 
predominance  in  this  branch. 

Since  the  war,  the  fabric  glove  situation  has  undergone 
a  great  change.  But,  looking  to  the  future,  as  in  the 
case  of  leather  gloves,  it  is  extremely  difficult  to  offer 
any  reliable  forecast  as  to  how  events  will  shape.  Last 
year  (1919)  although  the  imports  of  fabric  gloves  into 
this  country  closely  approached  one  million  dozen  pair 
(less  than  one-half  the  pre-war  volume),  very  few  came 
through  from  Germany.  The  official  analysis  of  the 
figures  is  not  yet  available  at  the  time  of  writing,  but 
it  is  well  known  in  the  trade  that  the  largest  portion  of 
the  gloves  imported  were  of  Japanese  origin.  The 
Japanese,  by  the  way,  were  very  early  in  seizing  the 
opportunity  presented  by  the  temporary  elimination 
of  German  competition,  and  promptly  took  steps  to 
develop  the  manufacture  of  the  cfieaper  grades  of 
fabric  gloves.  Yet  notwithstanding  many  advantages — 
considerable  support  from  a  progressive  and  sympathetic 
government,  good  supplies  of  raw  cotton,  and  abundant 
cheap  labour — Japan  has  failed  to  make  the  most  of 
her  opportunity.  Her  glove  factories,  hastily  organised, 
turned  out  gloves  in  extraordinarily  large  numbers  : 
but  quality  was  sacrificed  all  through  to  quantity 


DISTRIBUTION    OF   THE    INDUSTRY  121 

production.  The  gloves  sent  from  Japan  to  Europe 
so  far,  have  been  for  the  most  part  cheap,  inelegant 
articles  of  poor  quality  fabric,  atrociously  cut  and  shaped, 
and  badly  sewn  and  finished.  They  were,  in  the  main, 
totally  unsuited  for  the  European  market,  and  were  it 
not  for  the  absolute  shortage  of  gloves  of  all  kinds  would 
have  stood  little  chance  of  a  sale  here.  This  year  the 
imports  of  such  gloves  from  Japan  have  fallen  off 
considerably.  So  far  as  this  country  is  concerned 
Japanese  competition  is  very  little  feared. 

France  last  year  was  sending  us  bigger  consignments 
of  fabric  gloves  than  ever  before  in  her  history,  and  the 
majority  of  these  were  very  high  grade  articles. 

Whether  Germany  can  ever  regain  her  monopolistic 
position  in  this  branch  of  the  trade  must  remain  a  matter 
of  speculation.  The  German  manufacturers  are  already 
very  active  and  it  is  unreasonable  to  imagine  that  they 
will  let  the  trade  slip  out  of  their  hands  without  making 
a  fight.  They  have  a  generation  of  experience  behind 
them  ;  so  far  as  is  known  their  factories  are  intact, 
while  possibly  the  majority  of  their  skilled  workpeople 
are  available  to  help  in  the  rehabilitation  of  the  industry. 
Momentarily  their  chief  disadvantages  are  the  unsettled 
state  of  the  country  and  the  difficulty  in  securing 
supplies  of  raw  cotton,  cotton  yarns,  etc.,  owing  to  the 
depreciation  of  the  mark.  However,  they  are  already 
undercutting  home  producers  in  the  British  market 
the  low  rate  of  the  mark  against  the  pound  sterling 
being  a  big  advantage. 

Meanwhile  British  manufacturers  of  fabric  gloves 
have  made  remarkable  and  steady  progress.  In  point 
of  quality,  British  productions  can  now  claim  to  compare 
with  the  German  :  indeed,  in  some  lines  they  are 
certainly  superior.  Until  recently,  even  the  price 
factor  was  in  favour  of  British-made  gloves  and  it  was 


122  GLOVES    AND    THE    GLOVE    TRADE 

possible  to  buy  a  better  British  fabric  glove  at  a  slightly 
lower  price  than  an  inferior  German  article  of  the  same 
type.  In  recent  months,  however,  the  position  has 
changed  in  this  respect.  From  a  national  point  of  view, 
the  progress  made  in  this  branch  of  the  industry  is 
extremely  encouraging  :  but  no  British  manufacturer 
is  foolish  enough  to  overlook  the  fact  that  much  yet 
remains  to  be  done.  Although  the  British  fabric  glove 
in  point  of  general  excellence  and  quality  will  bear 
comparison  with  any — qualitatively  the  industry  has 
nothing  to  fear — the  output  is,  comparatively  speak- 
ing, still  small.  Much  development  must  take  place 
before  the  home  trade  can  claim  to  rival  the  highly 
organised  German  industry  of  pre-war  years.  It  is 
this  fact  confronting  the  British  fabric  glove-makers 
which  gives  them  most  concern.  They  have  demon- 
strated that  fabric  gloves  of  high  quality  and  excellent 
workmanship  can  be  manufactured  in  this  country  on  a 
commercial  basis  ;  they  have  laid  foundations  upon 
which  an  important  industry,  offering  employment  to 
many  more  workers,  can  be  reared  :  but  to  develop 
an  industry  of  this  kind  necessarily  takes  time.  Capital 
has  to  be  raised,  factories  built,  and  workers  trained  and 
organised  ;  so  that  for  a  few  years  development  must 
proceed  slowly  and  on  tentative  lines.  The  question 
arises  :  can  our  continental  rivals  resume  large  scale 
trading  on  their  old  methods  before  the  industry  here 
at  home  has  become  established  firmly  enough  to  with- 
stand competition  ?  This  is  the  dominant  question 
present  in  the  minds  of  the  trade  leaders  to-day  :  it  is  the 
vital  consideration  behind  the  policy  of  British  glove 
manufacturers  at  the  present  time. 

The  leaders  of  the  industry  urge,  possibly  with  justice, 
that  during  the  war  they  were  invited  by  the  Govern 
ment   (through  the  Board  of  Trade)  to  endeavour  to 


DISTRIBUTION    OF  THE   INDUSTRY  123 

develop  the  manufacture  of  fabric  gloves  in  this  country. 
They  responded  to  the  call.  Much  time  and  money  were 
devoted  to  research  and  experimental  work,  workers 
were  trained,  factories  were  built  and  a  fair  amount  of 
capital  was  sunk  in  the  industry.  When  the  armistice 
was  signed,  the  industry  was  just  emerging  from  the 
experimental  stage,  and  everyone  concerned  felt  that 
granted  favourable  conditions  during  the  next  few 
years  there  was  a  good  chance  for  its  development  on  a 
large  scale.  So  far,  however,  the  trade  holds  that  the 
Government  promises  to  take  steps  to  check  the  "  dump- 
ing "  of  foreign  made  goods  into  this  country  have  been 
singularly  ambiguous.  A  frank  and  unequivocal 
official  undertaking  that  under  no  circumstances  would 
they  permit  the  home  industry  to  be  swamped  by  unfair 
competition  from  abroad  would  do  more  to  encourage 
greater  progress  and  development  than  anything  else. 
If  that  undertaking  were  forthcoming,  there  is  no  reason 
to  doubt  that  the  manufacture  of  fabric  gloves  in  this 
country  would  in  the^course  of  a  few  years  reach 
gigantic  proportions. 

As  it  is,  a  few  of  the  smaller  firms  have  already 
abandoned  the  making  of  fabric  gloves,  whilst  some  of 
those  who  strove  the  hardest  to  re-establish  the  industry 
here  are  beginning  to  be  discouraged. 

The  Industry  in  Britain.  The  glove  trade  of  England 
has  witnessed  considerable  vicissitudes  in  the  course  of  its 
long  history.  As  mentioned  in  an  earlier  chapter  there 
are  many  indications  pointing  to  the  making  of  gloves 
in  those  early  seats  of  learning  and  craftsmanship — the 
monasteries.  In  Anglo-Saxon  times  glove-making  was 
carried  on  by  the  tawyers  or  skin-dressers  in  association 
with  other  crafts  involving  the  working  of  leather.  But 
by  the  middle  of  the  fourteenth  century  the  glovers  had 
certainly  come  to  be  regarded  as  a  separate  trade.  The 


124  GLOVES   AND   THE   GLOVE   TRADE 

growing  importance  of  the  industry  is  reflected  in  the 
records  of  the  glovers'  guilds  which  sprang  into  existence 
at  Perth,  Worcester  and  London.  There  can  be  no 
doubt  these  old  guilds  rendered  very  valuable  services 
to  the  industry,  and  probably  did  much  to  maintain 
and  improve  the  standard  and  character  of  the  pro- 
ductions of  the  trade.  Their  influence  and  powers 
were  considerable  ;  for,  in  addition  to  regulating  the 
manufacture  and  sale  of  gloves  in  the  home  trade,  they 
were  also  able  to  bring  pressure  to  bear  upon  the  Crown 
resulting  in  Statutes  of  Edward  IV,  Richard  III  and 
Elizabeth,  which  prohibited  the  importation  of  foreign- 
made  gloves.  This  prohibitive  legislation  remained  in 
force  until  the  early  years  of  last  century.  It  has  been 
suggested  that  these  protective  measures  were  obtained 
by  the  glovers  not  so  much  in  recognition  of  genuine 
grievances,  but  rather  as  privileges  in  return  for  moneys 
advanced  to  the  Crown  or  other  services  rendered. 
Be  that  as  it  may,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  they 
enabled  the  home  industry  to  keep  its  head  above  water 
when  otherwise  it  might  have  been  swamped  by  compe- 
tition from  abroad.  They  did  not  entirely  prevent  the 
entry  of  foreign  gloves  into  this  country,  and  ample 
evidence  could  be  adduced  to  show  that  such  gloves  were 
continually  being  brought  in  during  the  four  centuries 
while  the  Statutes  were  operative.  Smuggling  was  a 
profitable  calling  and  comparatively  easy  to  effect. 
The  laws  were  not  rigidly  enforced  although  they  stood 
upon  the  Statute  Book  ;  but  when  necessity  arose  they 
were  remembered  and  put  into  effect.  The  protection 
afforded  by  these  laws  was  extended  by  an  Act  passed 
in  the  reign  of  George  III  (1776)  ostensibly  to  encourage 
the  importation  of  kid  and  lamb  skins.  English  glovers, 
even  in  those  days,  excelled  in  producing  the  heavier 
types  of  gloves,  whereas  the  French  were  more  successful 


DISTRIBUTION   OF  THE   INDUSTRY  125 

with  the  lighter  and  more  elegant  articles.  It  was 
hoped  that  by  rigorously  excluding  French -made 
gloves,  the  importation  of  suitably  dressed  skins  for 
the  manufacture  of  the  lighter  class  of  goods  would 
follow  as  a  natural  consequence.  To  this  end  the 
fines  imposed  on  those  detected  importing  foreign 
gloves  were  increased  to  the  point  of  severity  whilst 
the  goods  so  seized  were  sold  and  the  proceeds  divided 
between  the  officer  making  the  seizure  and  the  Crown. 

Thus  during  four  centuries  and  more  the  industry 
enjoyed  comparative  freedom  from  foreign  competition. 
Whether  the  protection  thus  afforded  was  an  unqualified 
advantage  in  the  long  run  is  at  least  debatable.  The 
limitation  of  free  competition,  whilst  it  may  have 
enabled  the  glovers  to  pursue  their  industry  without 
fear  of  being  driven  out  of  business,  had  also  the  effect 
of  making  them  somewhat  lethargic.  When  business 
could  be  had  for  the  asking,  there  were  not  and  could 
not  be  the  same  incentives  to  initiative,  invention  and 
progress,  as  when  trade  had  to  be  striven  for  in  the 
face  of  keen  rivalry.  Desirable  as  it  might  be  that  home 
industries  should  be  fostered  and  encouraged,  there  is  a 
limit  beyond  which  State  protection  should  not  be  applied. 
It  is  perhaps  difficult  to  fix  an  arbitrary  limit,  but  it  is 
at  least  beyond  serious  contention  that  where  protection 
is  so  complete  that  the  industry  it  is  intended  to  safe- 
guard is  in  danger  of  being  stultified  thereby,  State  aid, 
whether  direct  or  indirect,  begins  to  be  undesirable. 
Artificial  economic  expedients  for  the  stimulation  of 
industry  need  to  be  applied  with  considerable  intelli- 
gence, and  it  was  the  absence  of  an  intelligent  application 
of  the  old  prohibitive  laws  which  rendered  them  harmful. 

In  1826,  the  British  glove  trade  was  confronted  with 
its  first  great  crisis.  Three  years  earlier  Huskisson  had 
initiated  his  Free  Trade  policy  which  was  destined  to 


128        GLOVES  AND  THE  GLOVE  TRADE 

change  the  whole  course  of  English  political  economy, 
and  by  the  date  mentioned  the  old  legislation  prohibiting 
the  entry  of  foreign- made  gloves  was  finally  repealed 
and  all  such  wares  were  admitted,  subject  only  to  the 
payment  of  certain  ad  valorem  duties.  The  effect  appears 
to  have  been  little  short  of  disastrous,  and  the  unem- 
ployment and  distress  which  followed  entailed  undue 
hardships  upon  the  unfortunate  glovers.  It  was  to 
protest  against  the  evil  consequences  which  the  removal 
of  protection  brought  in  its  train  that  led  Mr.  William 
Hull  to  write  his  History  of  the  Glove  Trade  (published 
in  1834).  The  main  portion  of  that  publication  is 
devoted  to  the  development  of  an  argument  in  favour 
of  re-enacting  the  old  prohibitory  laws.  While  we  may 
now  ignore  Hull's  remarkable  and  somewhat  contro- 
versial special  pleading,  some  of  the  evidence  he 
adduced  to  support  his  case  is  worthy  of  citation  as 
illustrating  the  disturbance  caused  by  the  legislation  of 
those  days. 

Thus,  in  Worcester  and  its  environs  (Hull  tells 
us)  there  were  in  1825  some  30,000  men,  women  and 
children  engaged  in  the  trade,  and  the  average  produc- 
tion of  gloves  amounted  to  12,000  dozen  pairs  weekly. 
Few  people  were  then  out  of  employment.  In  1832, 
according  to  a  statement  issued  by  a  committee  of 
operative  glovers  of  the  town,  out  of  1,000  men,  only  113 
were  in  full  employment,  whilst  465  were  partially 
employed,  and  422  were  out  of  work.  In  London,  the 
industry  furnished  employment,  prior  to  the  removal  of 
the  prohibition,  for  from  1,500  to  1,700  men,  mainly 
on  making  gloves  from  French  kid  skins.  By  1834 
several  manufacturers  of  the  metropolis  had  discontinued 
making  and  had  become  importers  of  French  made 
goods.  At  Hereford,  York  and  Ludlow  the  industry 
was  being  driven  out  of  existence.  Ludlow,  indeed, 


DISTRIBUTION    OF  THE   INDUSTRY  127 

which  formerly  employed  some  900  hands,  at  the  time 
Hull  was  writing  could  only  find  employment  for  163. 
At  Yeovil  and  the  other  west  country  centres  much  the 
same  experience  was  recorded. 

However,  debates  in  Parliament,  and  petitions  to 
Ministers  were  unavailing  ;  the  government  persisted 
in  their  policy,  and  the  industry  continued  to  suffer. 
By  the  early  forties,  it  would  seem,  the  distress  had 
reached  its  acutest  pitch,  and  public  funds  were  raised 
for  the  relief  of  distress.  By  that  time,  however, 
realising  that  they  must  rely  upon  themselves  to  dis- 
cover the  means  for  their  own  salvation,  the  more 
resourceful  and  enterprising  manufacturers  were  con- 
centrating their  energies  upon  special  lines,  and  by  paying 
increased  attention  to  the  quality  and  excellence  of  their 
merchandise  they  succeeded  in  building  a  reputation 
which  enabled  the  industry  to  embark  upon  more 
certain  paths  of  progress. 

In  1860,  the  last  vestiges  of  protection  for  the  home 
trade  were  removed,  the  small  import  duties  upon 
gloves  of  foreign  manufacture  being  repealed  in  that 
year.  But  by  that  time,  the  British  leather  glove  trade 
had  established  itself  again  upon  a  firm  and  sound 
basis.  In  several  respects  its  position  was  unassailable, 
particularly  in  regard  to  the  making  of  men's  and  the 
heavier  types  of  gloves.  The  withdrawal  of  the  duty 
had,  therefore,  comparatively  little  effect  upon  this 
branch  of  the  trade,  which  has  since  continued  to 
make  steady  progress. 

To-day  the  British  industry  is  chiefly  centred  in  the 
Worcester  and  Yeovil  districts  where  gloving  has  been 
carried  on  for  centuries.  In  addition  to  this  the  industry 
is  scattered  in  many  small  hamlets  of  Somersetshire, 
Dorsetshire,  Devon  and  Wiltshire.  Gloving  is  also 
carried  on  to  some  extent  in  Oxfordshire,  another 


128         GLOVES  AND  THE  GLOVE  TRADE 

ancient  seat  of  the  trade,  at  Woodstock,  and  at  Abingdon 
in  Berkshire.  London,  formerly  one  of  the  largest 
British  centres,  now  produces  but  few  gloves.  The 
Parish  of  St.  Giles,  Cripplegate,  was  at  one  time  noted  for 
its  glovers,  but  like  the  silk  weavers  of  Spitalfields,  these 
have  long  since  disappeared. 

The  making  of  fabric  gloves  in  England  is  carried  on 
largely  in  the  same  centres  where  leather  gloves  are 
made  ;  but  during  the  war  small  factories  have  sprung 
up  all  over  the  country.  The  making  of  the  fabric 
itself,  however,  is  almost  entirely  confined  to  the 
Nottingham  (Ilkeston  and  Melbourne)  and  Leicester 
districts.  Nottingham  produces  the  finer  fabrics,  and 
Leicester  the  heavier  cloths. 

At  the  present  time  the  home  industry  supports 
between  15,000  and  20,000  workers,  the  majority  of 
them  women,  but  this  number  tends  to  increase  with 
the  development  of  fabric-glove  making.  The  short- 
age of  suitable  trained  labour  is  not  the  least  of  the 
difficulties  which  hamper  progress. 

Very  large  quantities  of  gloves  were  imported  into  the 
United  Kingdom  in  pre-war  days,  nearly  all  coming  from 
Europe,  chiefly  from  France,  Germany,  Austria,  Italy, 
and  Belgium.  The  table  shown  on  the  following  page 
gives  the  quantities  of  the  Board  of  Trade  returns  for 
the  three  years  prior  to  the  outbreak  of  war . 

The  extent  to  which  the  international  trade  has  been 
disturbed  by  the  war  is  shown  by  the  Board  of  Trade 
returns  for  last  year  (1919),  according  to  which  British 
imports  of  leather  gloves  only  aggregated  243,254  dozen 
pairs.  The  detailed  returns  showing  the  origin  of  these 
are  not  available  at  the  time  of  writing,  but  it  may  be 
taken  for  granted  that  the  majority  of  the  leather 
gloves  imported  last  year  came  from  France  and  smaller 
quantities  from  Italy  and  the  United  States.  Prior  to 


DISTRIBUTION   OF  THE   INDUSTRY  129 

the  war,  Germany  and  Austria-Hungary  sent  us  the  bulk 
of  the  cheaper  classes  of  gloves  sold,  whilst  France 
concentrated  upon  the  higher  grades  of  women's  dress 
gloves. 

PRE-WAR  IMPORTS  OF  LEATHER  GLOVES  INTO  THE 
UNITED  KINGDOM 
(Dozens  of  Pairs) 

1911.  1912.  1913. 

France  .          .         470,686  493,067  466,688 

Germany1         .          .         304,160  376,492  343,009 

Austria-Hungary       .         303,193  304,701  369,886 

Belgium  .          .         222,236  232,745  278,926 

Italy        .          .          .  23,316  24,152        .          11,379 

Other  Foreign 

Countries      .          .  1,707  2,658  3,933 


1,325,307  1,433,815  1,473,871 

Pre-war,  the  exports  of  gloves  from  Great  Britain  were 
of  considerable  value.  The  following  figures  show  the 
quantities  sent  abroad  in  the  three  years  prior  to  the 
outbreak  of  war  with  their  destinations — 

BRITISH  PRE-WAR  EXPORTS  OF  LEATHER  GLOVES 
(Dozens  of  Pairs] 

1911.  1912.  1913. 

Germany          .          .           15,351  17,026  16,291 

France               .          .           29,824  31,276  33,307 

United  States             .           75,402  75,907  67,239 
Other  Foreign 

Countries      .          .           17,167  17,128  19,277 

British  Possessions   .           64,482  99,100  93,123 


202,336  240,437  229,237 

It  may  be  added  that  the  total  number  of  leather 
gloves  exported  from  Great  Britain  in  1919  only  amounted 
to  51,207  dozen  pairs. 

1  Probably  not  all  these  were  of  German  manufacture. 
Many  gloves  made  in  the  Prague  district  of  Bohemia  would  be 
shipped  via  German  ports  and  would  figure  in  the  returns  among 
the  quantities  credited  to  Germany. 


130         GLOVES  AND  THE  GLOVE  TRADE 

Dealing  with  fabric  gloves,  the  import  figures  for  the 
1911-13  period  were — 

PRE-WAR  IMPORTS  OF  FABRIC  GLOVES 
(Dozens  oj  Pairs) 

1911.  1912.  1913. 

Germany           .          .      1,819,480  2,051,379  2,511,009 

United  States            .           20,677  24,183  17,162 

Belgium            .          .             1,483  1,021  30 

France               .  75  60 

Other  Countries        .             3,443  2,849  3,537 


1,245,083  2,079,507  2,531,798 

The  monopolistic  character  held  by  the  German 
fabric  glove  industry  in  pre-war  years  is  apparent  from 
the  foregoing  table.  During  the  war  no  German  gloves 
were  imported  into  this  country,  and  few  came  in  last 
year,  but  they  are  again  beginning  to  enter  the  market. 
The  total  number  of  fabric  gloves  imported  during 
1919  amounted  to  964,944  dozen  pairs.  The  majority 
of  these  came  from  Japan,  but  the  imports  from  that 
source  have  since  fallen  away  considerably. 

Pre-war  the  British  exports  of  fabric  gloves  were 
comparatively  small  in  volume,  but  even  then  they 
were  expanding  year  by  year.  Even  so,  few  of  these 
would  be  of  British  manufacture,  and  should  be  really 
classed  as  re-exports.  The  figures  were  1911  — 25,021 
dozen  pairs  ;  1912—33,034  dozen  pairs  ;  and  1913— 
65,456  dozen  pairs.  Last  year  (1919),  however,  no  fewer 
than  129,259  dozen  pairs  were  exported.  These 
figures  represent  real  and  substantial  progress  which  all 
who  have  the  interests  of  the  home  industry  at  heart 
desire  to  see  continued. 

Looking  forward,  it  may  be  said  the  British  industry 
is  now  entering  upon  a  new  stage  in  its  history.  The 
war  has  brought  many  changes,  and  the  years 


THE   DISTRIBUTION   OF  THE   INDUSTRY  131 

immediately  ahead  are  full  of  possibilities.  There  is 
undoubtedly  immense  scope  for  expanding  the  industry, 
and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  the  utmost  advantage  will  be 
taken  of  the  opportunities  for  development  as  they 
become  available.  Fortunately,  there  is  evidence  of  a 
new  spirit  of  enterprise  at  work  in  the  glove  trade  which 
augurs  well  for  the  future.  The  trade  is  better  organised, 
now  than  in  former  years,  and  there  is  more  co-operation 
among  the  various  sections  of  the  industry  and  between 
individual  manufacturers.  These  signs  are  encouraging, 
and  coupled  with  a  vigorous  and  progressive  policy  on 
the  part  of  individual  makers,  aiming  at  the  production 
of  sound  and  reliable  merchandise,  should  do  much  to 
promote  the  healthy  development  of  the  trade  in  the 
Kingdom. 

The  French  Trade.  The  glove  industry  of  France, 
like  that  of  Great  Britain,  is  of  considerable  antiquity. 
It  is  in  fact  safe  to  assume  that  gloving,  as  an  industry, 
was  flourishing  in  France  by  the  twelfth  century.  Records 
are  extant  of  a  French  Company  of  Glovers  reaching 
back  at  least  to  A.D.  1190.  By  that  time  the  industry 
was  administered  under  a  settled  code  of  regulations. 
These  had  for  their  object  (1)  the  control  of  the  conditions 
of  manufacture  and  sale  of  gloves,  (2)  the  adjustment 
of  differences  between  masters,  journeymen  and 
apprentices,  and  (3)  the  provision  of  aid  and  succour  to 
old  and  necessitous  members  of  the  craft.  So  far  as 
leather  gloves  are  concerned,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that 
France  stands  as  the  leading  seat  of  the  industry.  Just 
prior  to  the  war  some  25,000  workers  were  employed  in 
the  making  of  gloves,  and  the  French  trade  has  always 
enjoyed  a  special  reputation  for  the  production  of  high 
grade  gloves,  particularly  in  the  finer  qualities  of  ladies' 
hand-wear.  Grenoble,  the  chief  centre,  is  probably  the 
largest  gloving  town  in  the  world.  The  town  contains 


132         GLOVES  AND  THE  GLOVE  TRADE 

over  60  factories  and  afforded  employment  in  pre-war 
days  to  over  17,000  employees.     Several  English  makers 
have  factories  in  the  town.     Grenoble  kid  gloves  are 
famed    the    world    over.     Millau    is    the    next    French 
centre  in  order  of  importance  and  is  noted  for  its  choice 
lamb  skin  gloves.      Next  comes  St.  Junien  and  Niort 
employing  about  2,000  workers,  whilst  there  is  also  a 
good  deal  of  gloving  done  at  Paris  and  Chaumont.     It 
is  not  possible  to  give  any  reliable  figures  bearing  upon 
the  present  production  of  gloves  in  France,  but  in  1913, 
the  output  was  valued  at  120,000,000  francs.     France 
also  manufactured  several  thousand  dozens  of  fabric 
gloves — largely  from  German  fabric,  be  it  said — in  pre- 
war days.     Fairly  large  numbers  of  such  gloves  are  now 
being  made  in   the   Lyons  district  from   English  and 
French-made   fabrics.      The    French    industry   is   well 
organised,   and  there  are  Chambers  of  manufacturers 
at  Grenoble  and  all  the  big  centres.     During  the  war 
the   industry   suffered   severely   from   one    cause    and 
another  ;  but  it  is  now  making  good  progress,  although 
the  post-war  difficulties  of  supply  and  labour  troubles 
common  to  the  trade  all  over  the  world  are  considerable. 
Czecho-  Slovakia.     Formerly,    Austria-Hungary    pro- 
duced  immense   numbers   of  leather   gloves   annually, 
many  of  which  found  their  way  (largely  via  Germany) 
into  the  markets  of  the  United  Kingdom,  Russia,  the 
Northern   European   countries,   and    also    into    South 
America.     A  great  proportion  of  the  output  was  repre- 
sented by  cheap   "  nappa  "  gloves.      Many  thousand 
dozen  pairs  of  so-called   Mocha  and  of  wash  leather 
gloves  were  also  exported.     The  bulk  of  these,  however, 
were   produced   in   Bohemia,   which   under   the   peace 
treaty  is  now  incorporated  in  the  new  State  of  Czecho- 
slovakia, which  means  that  Austria  loses  quite  80  per 
cent,  of  the  industry.     The  chief  seat  of  the  Bohemian 


DISTRIBUTION   OF   THE   INDUSTRY  133 

industry  was  at  Prague,  where  from  850,000  tol, 000,000 
dozen  pairs  used  to  be  produced  annually.  Production 
is  now  on  a  much  lower  scale  owing  largely  to  the 
shortage  of  raw  materials,  labour  and  other  difficulties  ; 
but  the  situation  at  Prague  is  said  to  be  more  promising 
than  at  many  other  centres  of  Middle  Europe.  The 
Erz-Gebirge  district  (now  also  part  of  Czecho-Slovakia) 
used  to  produce  some  200,000  to  300,000  dozen  pairs 
annually,  but  the  industry  was  severely  affected  during 
the  war  and  the  output  is  now  much  diminished.  Moravia 
and  Silesia  (which  also  must  now  be  included  in  Czecho- 
slovakia) used  to  yield  about  100,000  dozen  pairs 
annually,  but  here  again,  production  has  decreased 
considerably.  At  Caarden,  also,  there  are  a  number  of 
factories  mainly  producing  washable  leather  gloves. 
There  again  the  industry  shows  little  sign  of  re  covering 
from  the  serious  set-back  caused  by  the  war.  In  addition 
to  the  shortage  of  suitable  skins,  the  materials  used 
for  making  washable  leather  have  been  practically 
unobtainable. 

The  Bavarian  Industry.  The  leather  glove  industry 
of  Germany  is  chiefly  carried  on  in  Bavaria,  Munich 
being  the  principal  centre.  In  pre-war  days  large 
quantities  of  cheap  but  inferior  gloves  were  produced, 
the  main  proportion  of  them  being  exported  to  England, 
Russia,  Scandinavia  and  the  United  States.  Cheap 
fur  gloves  were  a  speciality — rabbit  and  hare- lined 
gloves  being  sent  in  large  quantities  to  Russia  and 
Scandinavia.  So  far  as  export  trade  is  concerned,  the 
industry  has  been  practically  at  a  standstill  since  the 
outbreak  of  war.  There  is  little  prospect  at  present 
that  production  can  be  resumed  on  the  old  scale  for  some 
considerable  time  to  come. 

Other  Centres.  Belgium  before  the  war  produced 
large  quantities  of  gloves,  Brussels  being  the  seat  of  the 


134  GLOVES   AND   THE   GLOVE   TRADE 

industry,  and  one  or  two  British  firms  had  dressing 
yards  and  factories  in  the  neighbourhood.  A  consider- 
able amount  of  gloving  was  also  carried  on  formerly 
in  Luxembourg.  Both  in  Belgium  and  Luxembourg 
progress  towards  recovery  promises  to  be  fairly  rapid. 

Italy  produces  considerable  numbers  of  gloves 
annually.  Naples  is  the  largest  centre,  but  the  gloves 
produced  there  are  on  the  whole  of  the  cheaper  variety. 
Better  quality  gloves,  but  in  much  smaller  quantities, 
are  made  at  Turin,  Milan  and  Genoa. 

Denmark  had  formerly  a  prosperous  gloving  industry 
centred  at  Copenhagen,  but  not  so  much  has  been  heard 
of  it  in  latter  years. 

Just  as  some  of  the  European  centres  have  been  almost 
crippled  by  the  war,  so  the  American  and  Canadian 
glove  industries,  in  the  absence  of  competition,  have 
been  able  to  make  a  great  deal  of  headway.  This  is 
particularly  true  of  the  American  trade.  The  industry 
there  is  practically  confined  t^the  States  of  New  York 
and  Jersey.  One  town,  Gloversville,  derived  its  name 
from  the  industry.  America  is  known  throughout  the 
world  for  the  production  of  high-class  silk  gloves,  the 
making  of  which  is  restricted  more  or  less  to  the  State 
of  New  York. 

Several  British  and  French  firms  have  in  recent  years 
opened  factories  in  Canada,  whilst  the  establishments 
controlled  by  Canadian  glovers  have  also  been  con- 
siderably extended  and  added  to.  A  recent  report  issued 
by  the  Census  Bureau  at  Ottawa  for  the  year  1918, 
reveals  the  extent  of  the  Dominion's  progress  in  this 
respect.  In  1915  the  industry  was  evidently  declining. 
At  that  time  the  output  for  the  year  was  valued  at 
1,877,964  dollars,  as  compared  with  2,995,356  dollars  in 
1910.  In  1918,  however,  the  output  is  stated  to  have 
totalled  8,307,677  dollars,  and  even  allowing  for  the  higher 


DISTRIBUTION   OF  THE  INDUSTRY  135 

values  obtaining,  it  is  clear  that  substantial  expansion 
has  taken  place. 

Taking  quantitative  figures,  over  776,706  dozen  pairs 
are  officially  reported  to  have  been  manufactured  in 
Canada  during  1918.  Of  these  516,760  dozen  were 
leather  gloves  (other  than  kid),  7,583  dozen  were  kid, 
whilst  cotton  gloves  accounted  for  138,434  dozen, 
woollen,  63,505  dozen,  and  silk,.  50,424  dozen.  About 
one-half  of  these  were  dress  or  fashion  articles,  the  other 
half  representing  men's  and  boys'  lined  and  unlined 
working  gloves.  Of  the  dress  gloves  rather  less  than 
one-third  were  women's.  The  capital  invested  in  the 
industry  in  1918  is  placed  at  6,291,269  dollars,  which  is 
exactly  ten  times  the  amount  invested  eight  years 
previously.  Further  proof  is  afforded  of  the  rapid 
progress  of  the  Canadian  industry  by  the  growing  volume 
of  gloving  materials  imported.  On  the  other  hand  the 
imports  of  gloves  for  1918-1919  fiscal  year  declined 
64  per  cent,  in  value  (notwithstanding  the  higher 
prices  ruling)  as  compared  with  the  last  fiscal  year 
before  the  outbreak  of  war.  This,  of  course,  was  due 
largely  to  the  restrictions  on  exports  from  Europe. 


10— (1463 j)     12  pp. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

BRITISH    GLOVE   TRADE    ORGANISATIONS 

ALTHOUGH  the  old  Glovers'  Guilds  of  earlier  centuries 
are  no  longer  in  existence  to  exercise  an  influence  over 
the  affairs  of  the  glove  trade,  there  are  now  several 
organisations  connected  with  the  industry  both  on  the 
employers'  and  employees'  sides.  In  the  first  half  of 
the  nineteenth  century,  in  common  with  the  general 
spirit  of  the  times,  there  was  little  or  no  attempt  at 
combination,  either  on  the  part  of  the  masters  or  of 
the  men.  During  the  critical  times  through  which  the 
English  trade  passed,  firstly  subsequent  to  the  repeal  of 
the  prohibitory  import  laws  in  1826,  and  again  after  the 
repeal  of  the  import  duties  in  1860,  we  hear  of  sporadic 
attempts  at  combination,  but  apparently  nothing  came 
of  them.  In  those  days,  it  is  necessary  to  remember, 
the  actual  master  glovers,  although  often  men  of  sub- 
stance, frequently  lived  among  their  workers,  and  the 
community  of  interest  between  employers  and  employees 
was  far  more  apparent  than  it  is  to-day.  Troublesome 
periods  were  experienced,  and  differences  arose  from 
time  to  time,  but  actual  labour  disputes  were  remarkably 
few. 

In  the  latter  half  of  last  century,  however,  a  new 
movement  towards  combination  and  organisation 
definitely  set  in.  The  initial  efforts,  it  is  true,  were 
anything  but  promising.  In  the  early  eighties  the 
first  recorded  instance  of  any  real  attempt  to  launch  a 
glovers'  trade  union  occurred  at  Worcester.  There  the 
Glovers'  Trade  Society  was  formed  in  1884.  It  was  a 
workers'  society  and  its  policy  followed  the  usual  lines 

136 


BRITISH   GLOVE   TRADE   ORGANISATIONS  137 

of  nineteenth  century  trade  unionism.  Contributions 
were  levied  upon  the  members  for  a  benevolent  fund 
for  the  relief  of  necessitous  members  in  times  of  sickness 
or  periods  of  unemployment  due  to  slack  trade.  Inter- 
mittent employment  was  the  great  bugbear  of  the 
industry  and,  with  a  view  to  mitigating  this  evil,  the 
society  aimed  at  the  restriction  of  the  number  of 
apprentices  to  be  indentured  to  the  trade,  in  the  hope 
that  by  thus  thinning  the  ranks  of  recruits,  employment 
for  those  already  engaged  in  the  industry  would  be  made 
more  secure.  The  society  was,  happily,  far  too  weak  to 
push  so  short-sighted  a  policy  to  a  conclusion.  Neither 
were  the  offices  of  the  organisation  ever  called  for  in 
more  serious  matters,  and  there  is  no  recorded  instance 
of  a  strike  in  the  trade.  Throughout  its  history  the 
Glovers'  Trade  Society,  membership  of  which  was 
confined  strictly  to  male  operatives,  received  but 
inadequate  support,  and  after  languishing  for  some 
twenty  years  it  was  dissolved  in  1904. 

In  1917,  however,  another  attempt  was  made  to  organ- 
ise the  workers  of  the  Worcester  area,  as  a  result  of 
which  the  Worcester  Glove  and  Leather  Workers' 
Society  was  formed.  This  organisation  admits  female 
workers,  and  boasts  probably  the  largest  membership 
of  any  glovers'  trade  union.  During  the  last  two  years 
special  efforts  have  been  made  to  attract  the  women 
home-workers  into  membership,  and  the  position  of  the 
Society  has  been  strengthened  by  affiliation  with  the 
Amalgamated  Society  of  Gas,  Municipal  and  General 
Workers. 

About  six  years  before  the  first  Worcester  Society  came 
to  its  untoward  end,  the  operatives  in  the  Yeovil  district 
succeeded  in  founding  the  United  Glovers'  Mutual  Aid 
Society.  In  this  case,  again,  the  apathy  of  the  operatives 
for  a  long  period  prevented  any  real  progress,  but  since 


138  GLOVES   AND   THE   GLOVE   TRADE 

the  war  the  membership  has  been  very  largely  extended, 
although  it  is  still  confined  to  male  operatives. 

Another  trade  union,  the  Amalgamated  Society  of 
Glovers,  was  formed  some  twenty  years  ago  at  Stoke- 
under-Ham  for  male  operatives,  and  now  embraces 
workers  engaged  in  the  industry  in  North  Devon  and 
Dorsetshire. 

Strangely  enough  the  organisation  of  the  women 
operatives,  who  comprise  a  majority  of  the  workers  in 
the  industry,  has  been  largely  left  to  unions  not  directly 
associated  with  the  gloving  industry,  and  the  National 
Federation  of  Women  Workers,  the  Dock  Wharf  and 
Riverside  Workers'  Union,  and  the  General  Workers' 
Union  each  claim  a  number  of  gloveresses  among  their 
members. 

On  the  employers'  side,  there  are  two  important 
organisations  representative  of  the  leather  glove  trade  : 
The  Yeovil  and  District  Glove  Manufacturers'  Associa- 
tion, embracing  over  30  firms  established  at  Yeovil, 
Stoke-under-Ham,  Milborne  Port,  Sherborne,  Martock, 
Westbury,  Taunton  and  Glastonbury,  and  the  Worcester 
and  District  Glove  Manufacturers'  Association,  embracing 
practically  all  the  firms  engaged  at  Worcester,  and  one 
or  two  drawn  from  outside  that  area.  In  addition  to 
these  there  is  a  North  Devon  Glove  Manufacturers' 
Association.  In  1919,  a  new  organisation  came  into 
existence  embracing  practically  all  makers  of  fabric 
gloves.  The  National  Association  of  Fabric  Glove 
Manufacturers  of  Great  Britain,  as  it  is  called,  has  a 
membership  of  about  40  firms  representing  some  6,000 
employees.  With  it  is  affiliated  the  Glove  and  Warp 
Fabric  Makers'  Association  of  Ilkeston  (near  Nottingham), 
representing  the  fabric  knitting  branch  of  the  trade. 

In  1918  an  Interim  Industrial  Reconstruction 
Committee  for  the  glove  industry  was  set  up  on  the 


BRITISH   GLOVE   TRADE   ORGANISATIONS  139 

lines  of  the  recommendations  contained  in  the  report 
of  the  Whitley  Commission.  In  this  body  all  the 
employers'  associations  and  employees'  unions  connected 
with  the  industry  are  represented,  and  questions  relating 
to  wages,  hours  and  conditions  of  employment  through- 
out the  industry  are  referred  to  the  committee  for 
discussion.  So  far  the  relations  of  employers  and  workers 
have  been  singularly  happy.  Disputes  have  fortunately 
been  rare,  whilst  the  worst  evil — strikes — has  been 
conspicuous  by  its  absence.  Wage  advances  during 
the  last  four  years  have  been  made  representing  about 
150  per  cent,  above  pre-war  figures.  Latterly,  however, 
it  has  become  increasingly  apparent  that  certain  fabric 
glove  manufacturers  do  not  see  eye  to  eye' with  the  manu- 
facturers of  leather  gloves,  nor  with  those  firms  producing 
both  classes  of  articles.  Some  of  the  fabric  manu- 
facturers contend,  possibly  with  some  justice,  that  the 
fabric  glove  being  a  cheap  article  in  comparison  with  the 
leather  glove,  will  not  admit  of  the  same  high  standard 
of  wages  as  the  latter.  Recently,  the  fabric  manufac- 
turers' association  even  went  so  far  as  to  reject  (by  a 
majority  vote)  a  recommendation  of  the  Interim  Joint 
Industrial  Council  for  a  17 J  per  cent,  increase  of  wages-. 
The  decision,  however,  was  not  unanimous,  and  many  of 
the  biggest  firms  manufacturing  fabric  gloves  decided  to 
recognise  the  award  made  by  the  Council.  It  remains 
to  be  seen  whether  the  differences  between  the  two 
branches  of  the  industry  can  be  composed,  or  whether 
the  policy  of  the  National  Association  of  Fabric  Glove 
Manufacturers  will  lead  to  the  disruption  of  the  Interim 
Industrial  Reconstruction  Council,  in  which  case  it  is 
expected  the  Government  would  set  up  a  Trade  Board 
whose  orders  would  have  Statutory  effect. 

This  difference  of  opinion  among  the  manufacturers 
exemplifies  the  need  for  a  closer,  or  at  least  a  more 

JOA—  (1463  j) 


140         GLOVES  AND  THE  GLOVE  TRADE 

co-ordinated,  organisation  throughout  the  industry. 
On  the  employers'  side  there  are  still  a  number  of  establish- 
ments unrepresented  in  any  association,  while  sectional 
differences  and  petty  jealousies  sometimes  prevent  the 
best  results  accruing  from  those  organisations  which  do 
exist.  It  must  be  remembered,  however,  that  organisa- 
tion (in  the  modern  sense)  is  in  its  infancy  in  the  glove 
trade.  Possibly  the  passage  of  time  will  show  individual 
firms  that  although  membership  of  a  corporate  body  does 
sometimes  involve  the  subordination  of  individual 
ideas  to  the  general  consensus  of  opinion,  the  sacrifices 
called  for  are  far  outweighed  by  the  security  and 
benefits  which  combination  alone  can  confer. 

So,  too,  on  the  employees'  side,  the  multiplicity  of 
trade  unions  connected  with  the  industry — the  glove 
workers  in  some  of  them  representing  but  a  small 
minority  of  the  total  membership  of  the  unions — does 
not  make  for  coherent  policy  or  facilitate  smooth 
negotiation.  Whether  the  time  will  come  when  the 
industry  will  enjoy  a  single  organisation  on  either  side 
remains  to  be  seen.  Such  a  development  is  recognised 
as  highly  desirable  by  all  progressive  leaders  of  the 
industry  and  by  many  of  the  more  alert  organisers 
among  the  workers.  The  scattered  locale  of  the  trade, 
and  the  strong  sectional  feelings  animating  each  district 
and  branch,  unfortunately  militate  against  the  recogni- 
tion of  that  general  community  of  interest  which  is 
essential  if  the  organisation  of  the  industry  is  to  reach 
a  higher  pitch  of  perfection. 


GLOSSARY 

Atlas  fabric. — Fabric  which  has  been  knitted  in  an  Atlas 
machine. 

Bandalette. — Another  name  for  the  welt  or  binding  sewn 
round  the  wrist  of  the  glove  to  finish  the  edge.  Sometimes 
called  a  Binding  or  Welting. 

Beaming. — The  operation  of  scraping  the  skins  for  the  removal 
of  hair. 

Boulton  thumb. — In  gloves  fitted  with  Boulton  thumbs,  the 
trank  or  main  part  of  the  glove  is  cut  with  a  strip  projecting 
down  towards  the  inner  side  of  the  base  of  the  thumb  opening. 
No  quirk  is  then  required  and  a  stronger  glove  is  obtained. 

Cape. — Originally  the  name  of  leather  made  from  Cape  sheep 
skins.  Now  applied  indiscriminately  to  sheep  and  goat  skins 
tanned  by  the  dipping  method  and  given  a  glace  finish. 

Chamois. — Originally  leather  made  from  the  skin  of  the 
Chamois  or  Swiss  mountain  goat  (now  practically  extinct).  The 
term  is  to-day  used  for  leather  made  by  the  "  shamoying  " 
process  in  which  fish-oil  is  largely  used. 

Chevrette. — Leather  produced  from  young  goats. 
Degrains. — Leather  the  grain  of  which  has  been  removed  by 
the  frizing  or  freizing  process. 

Doeskin. — Formerly  deerskin  or  antelope  leather,  which  is  now 
becoming  exceedingly  rare.  Sheep-skins  finished  as  "  chamois  " 
leather  are  now  sometimes  sold  under  this  name. 

Doling. — An  alternative  process  to  paring,  used  for  thin  skins. 

Drenching. — Skins  after  liming  and  puering  are  immersed  in  a 

mixture   of  flour   or   meal   and   water.     Fermentation   ensues, 

which  reduces  the  skins  to  a  gelatinous  condition  and  facilitates 

the  reception  of  tanning  ingredients. 

Duplex  fabric. — Is  produced  by  causing  two  separate  fabrics  to 
adhere  together  by  means  of  special  solutions  involving  secret 
processes. 

Fleshers. — Sheep-skins  are  frequently  split  edgewise,  and  the 
half  nearest  the  flesh  of  the  animal  is  known  as  a  flesher.  These 
are  used  largely  for  suedes,  chamois,  and  washable  gloves. 

Fleshing. — A  mechanical  operation  for  removing  particles 
of  flesh  from  the  skins  preparatory  to  tanning. 

Fluffing. — Sometimes  called  "  wheeling,"  is  a  mechanical 
process  which  is  rapidly  superseding  paring.  The  skins  instead 
of  being  shaved  with  a  knife  are  ground  down  on  emery  or 
carborundum  wheels. 

141 


142  GLOVES   AND   THE    GLOVE    TRADE 


Frizing  or  Freizing. — A  method  of  removing  the  grain  of  the 
skins  used  for  Mocha,  reindeer  gloves  and  other  degrains. 

Fourchcttes,  Forgits  or  Forks. — The  six  slender  slips  of  leather 
used  to  close  the  fingers  of  the  glove. 

Glace  or  grain  finish. — Gloves  finished  with  the  outer  side 
of  the  skin  outwards  are  said  to  have  a  glace  or  grain  finish. 

Gussets.— Small  pieces  of  leather  of  diamond  shape  used  at  the 
junction  of  the  fingers  and  palm.  They  are  sometimes  known  as 
"  piecettes." 

Heart  (or  protector). — Stay  pieces  used  under  the  binding  of 
the  palm. 

Kid. — The  leather  made  from  kid-skins.  Lamb-skin  leathers, 
however,  are  now  often  sold  as  kid. 

Lisle. — Special  fabric  knitted  from  lisle  threads  made  by 
spinning  yarns  from  two  separate  strands  spun  in  opposite 
directions. 

Milanese. — Fabric  knitted  in  a  Milanese  machine. 

Mocha. — Actually  the  skin  of  the  Arabian  haired  sheep. 
Other  skins  are  now  tanned  and  finished  by  special  processes 
and  sold  as  Mocha. 

Morts. — The  skins  of  abortive  lambs  or  kids.  Sometimes 
known  as  "  slinks." 

Overseam. — See  "  Roundseam." 

Paring.  —  The  process  of  planing  the  flesh  side  of  the  skin 
to  a  uniform  thickness.  Formerly  entirely  a  hand  operation 
it  is  now  largely  being  displaced  by.  "  wheeling  "  or  "  fluffing." 

Pique  (P.  K.)  sewing. — A  lapped-seam  stitch,  used  for  medium 
weight  gloves. 

Prix  seam  (P.  R.  X.  M.  or  Prick  seam). — A  sewing  passing 
through  the  leather,  leaving  both  raw  edges  exposed.  A  strong 
sewing,  if  not  neat,  used  for  heavy  gloves,  more  particularly 
those  made  for  driving. 

Points. — The  decoration  on  the  back  of  a  glove. 

Puering. — The  process  by  which  the  skins  are  softened  after 
liming,  preparatory  to  tanning. 

Quirk. — A  gusset  or  gore  sometimes  used  at  the  base  of  the 
thumb. 

Roundseam  (Overseam). — A  sewing  for  light-weight  gloves,  in 
which  the  stitching  is  carried  through  the  leather  and  over  the  edges. 

Sac  wrist. — Gloves  made  without  a  slit  at  the  wrist  opening,  a 
strip  of  elastic  being  usually  let  into  the  glove  at  the  wrist  in 
order  to  keep  the  glove  in  position  on  the  hand 

Slinks. — Another  name  for  "  Morts."  The  skins  of  abortive 
lambs  or  kids. 

Staking. — A  hand  or  machine  process  for  softening  harsh  dry 
skins  after  they  have  been  dried  in  stoves. 

Strikers. — Chemical  salts  used  to  fix  the  dyes  for  colouring 
leather  gloves. 


GLOSSARY  143 

Suede. — Is  not  actually  a  distinct  leather,  but  is  produced 
from  "  flesher  "  sheep-skins  or  lamb-skins  and  finished  on  the 
flesh  side  by  means  of  a  wet  emery  wheel. 

Sueded  fabrics. — Glove  fabrics  are  sometimes  passed  through 
special  machines  in  order  to  brush  up  a  nap  on  the  surface  of  the 
cloth  to  simulate  a  suede  leather  effect. 

Tambour. — A  crocheted  point. 

Tawing. — The  term  applied  to  the  most  common  method 
of  tanning  glove  leather  with  a  mixture  of  alum,  salt,  flour  and 
egg-yolk. 

Trank. — The  name  of  the  sections  of  finished  leather  stretched 
and  cut  by  the  cutters  ready  to  be  shaped  into  gloves. 

Warp  fabric. — Glove  fabric  is  knitted  from  warps  of  cotton 
or  silk,  as  distinct  from  weft  yarns. 

Wheeling. — Another  name  for  fluffing,  the  process  which  is 
superseding  "  paring." 


INDEX 


ATLAS  Fabric,  104  et  seq. 
Austria-Hungary,    the    indus- 
try in,  133 

BARK  tanning,  43 

Bavaria,  the  industry  in,   134 

Beaming,  35 

Beck,    S.    William,   quoted,    7, 

10,  12  et  seq. 
Belgium,  the  industry  in,  120, 

134 

Brosser  point,  74,  75 
Brush-dyeing,  50  51 
Button  holing  and  sewing,  88 

CALIBRES,  cutting,  64,  66 
Canada,  industry  in,   135 
Capes,  25,  28,  58 
Cestus  or  Coestus,  2 
Chamois,  28,  43,  58 

-  process,  43  et  seq. 
Clasps,  89 

Corded  point,  80 
Cutting  (fabric),  109 

-  (skins),  60  et  seq. 
Czecho-Slovakia,    industry  in, 

133 

D'ARTOIS,  Vallet,  67 

D' Israeli,  Isaac,  quoted,  8 

d'Orsay,    Count — rules    for 

wearing  gloves,  20 
Deliming,  37 

Denmark,  industry  in,   135 
Depilation,  34 
Doeskins,  29,  43 
Dogskins,  59 
Doling,  55 
Domes,  89 
Drenching,  37 
Drying  (stove),  53 
Duplex  fabric,   107 


Dyeing  (fabric),  106 

—  (skins),  48  et  seq. 
Dyewoods,  51 

ECONOMICS    of    the    industry. 

118  et  seq. 

Egg  yolk,  use  of,  52 
Elizabeth,  Queen,  gloves  of,  15 
Ethelred,  law  of,  4 

FABRIC  gloves,  history,  92,  98 

— ,  making,  99-113 
Fashion,  influence  of,   12-22 
Fleshers,  29,  43 
Fleshing,  36 
Fluffing,  56 

Fourchettes  or  forks,  64 
France,  industry  in,  132 
Prizing  or  friezing,  43,  58 
Fur  gloves,  90 

GAZELLE  skins,  27 
Geographical    distribution     of 

glove  making,  118 
Germany,  industry  in,   119 

-— ,  monopoly  of  fabric  glove 

making,  92,  121 
Glace  finish,  56 
Glove,  parts  of,  63 

— ,  diagrams,  68,  69 

— ,  proportions  of,  70 
-  and  Warp  Fabric  Makers' 

Association,  139 
Glovers'  guilds,  5,  125,  137 

-  Trade  Society,  137 
Gussets,  64 

HAND  sewing,  81 
Henry  VI,  gloves  of,  14 

-  VIII,  gloves  of,  15 
History  of  the  glove,  1-7 


144 


INDEX 


145 


Hull,  William,  quoted,  8,  12 
et  seq. 

IMPORTS  and  exports  (statis- 
tics,) 130  et  seq. 

Import  prohibitions,  5-6,   126 

Interim  Industrial  Recon- 
struction Council,  138 

Italy,  industry  in,  135 

JOUVIN,  Xavier,  67 
Judging     gloves,     suggestions 
for,  116 

KASANS,  26 
Kid  skins,  24 
Kohler  point,  110 

LAMB  skins,  25,  26 
Lapped  seam,  81 
Limericks,  25 
Liming  process,  35 
London,     Corporation    of 
Glovers  in,  6 

MARY,  Queen  of  Scots,  gloves 

of,  17 

Milanese  fabric,  104  et  seq. 
Mocha,  26,  28,  45,  58 

-  process,  45,  58 
Mochas,  imitation,  46 

NAPPA  gloves,  58 

National  Association  of  Fabric 
Glove  Manufacturers,  139 

North  Devon  Glove  Manu- 
facturers' Association,  139 

PARING,  54  et  seq. 
Paris,   Corporation  of  Glovers 
of,  5 

-  point,  78 

Perth,  Corporation  of  Glovers 

at,  5 

Piqu6  stitch,  81 
Pointing,  73  et  seq. 
Presses,  cutting,  64 


Prix  seam,  81 
Puering,  37 

QUIRKS,  64 

RAISED  points,  80 
Reindeer  skins,  27 
Ribbed  or  beaded  points,  80 
Ripening  the  skins,  48 
Round  seam,  81 

SAMMING  process,  44 
Sewing  operations,  72,   109 
Shakespeare,  gloves  of,  19 
Sheep  skins,  25 
Silk  gloves,  1 1 1 
Skin  dressing,  31-47 
Skins  for  leather  gloves,  23-30 
,  average  yield  of  gloves, 

59 
,  variation     in     size     and 

character,  62 

— ,  construction,  63 
Sorting  (skins),  48,  59 
Soudans,  26 
Staking,  40-41,  53 
Stocking  process  (chamois),  44 
Strikers,  51 
Suede  leather,  56 
Sueded  fabric,  107 
Symbolism,  8-12 

TAMBOURING,  79,  80 
Tanning  processes,  38  et  seq. 
Tawing  process,  38 
Trade   Unions   and    Organisa- 
tions, 137 
Tranks,  60,  68,  69 

UNHAIRING,  34 

United    Glovers'    Mutual   Aid 

Society,  138 

—  States,  industry  in,    135 

VICTOR  point,  75 

WARP  knitting,  104 
Warping  operation,  103 


146 


INDEX 


Washable  leather,  making  of, 

45 

Washing  processes,  32,  49,  50 
Weft  fabric,  108 
Wheeling,  56 

Wood,  Mrs.  Henry,  quoted,  52 
Woollen  gloves,  111 
Worcester  Glove  and  Leather 

Workers'  Society,  138 


Worcester  and  District  Glove 
Makers'  Association,  139 

Wykeham,  William  of,  gloves 
of,  13 


YARNS  for  fabric  gloves,  100 

Yeovil     and     District     Glove 

Makers'  Association,   139 


Printed  by  Sir  Isaac  Pitman  &•  Sons,  Ltd.,  Bath,  England 
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